S.08-121
Office of the vice-presidents academic and provost
As
arbjerdeol
b9
0 ?
Sery
ttec
&
MEMO
I
ATTENTION:
Senate
FROM: ?
Jonathan Driver, Vice-President, Academic & Provost
I
RE:
?
Environment Faculty
DATE: ?
November 18, 2008
At its meeting today, the Senate Committee ogen and Rules agreed on
S ?
wording for the motion to be presented to Senate a its meeting on 1 December
2008:
MOTION
That Senate accepts that the proposed programming for the
Environment Faculty,satisfies the condition of the motion approved
by Senate on 7 Ap 2008. the e6tabIhed that Faculty.
Ihdudany a
/rbiy Coh1iflejf
Ar
ne) pro,qain' deveiop merit
a1 bath -#1
?
4y
ejird(Jt,a1eJ and
y
adciafe-
/evei (,1
SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
?
THINKING OF THE WORLD
SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
• ?
Senate Committee on University Priorities
Memorandum
TO:
Senate ?
FROM: ?
Jonathan Driver
Chair, SCUP
Vice President, Academic
RE:
Report from the Faculty of
?
DATE:
?
November 10, 2gD8'
Environment Interdisciplinary
Programming Committee (SCUP 08-32)
Subsequent to the extensive work and recommendations f the hase 2 Task Force on
Academic Structure, at its meeting of April 7, 2008 Senate Vrovisjonally approved the
establishment of a Faculty of Environment. Final approval isvontinent upon further
approval by Senate of potential new programming in a new Faculty
1
. The Faculty of
Environment Interdisciplinary Programming Committee was established and mandated
to demonstrate both the capacity and potential for significant new programming under
an Environment Faculty, as described in the attached final report from the committee.
The committee report (submitted to the Vice President Academic) was reviewed and
discussed at SCUP, resulting in the following motions:
.
Motion
I
That SCUP endorses and recommends to Senate the recommendation of the Faculty of
Environment Interdisciplinary Programming Committee that a new Environment Faculty
be formed, and advises Senate that there is potential to develop the Faculty around
existing and complementary new programming.
Motion 2
That SCUP reconfirms to Senate that the Environment Faculty have administrative
responsibility for the following: the Environmental Science Program; the Department of
Geography; the School of Resource and Environmental Management; the Centre for
Sustainable Community Development; and the Graduate Certificate in Development
Studies.
Rationale and Background
The Faculty of Environment Interdisciplinary Programming Committee was established
and mandated as described in the attached final report from the committee. The
committee completed its work and has detailed the capacity and potential for important
new programming under an Environment Faculty.
1
The term "Environment Faculty" is a neutral placeholder for the final name of the Faculty, to be
determined at a later date.
a.
The details provided in the report demonstrate that SFU currently benefits from a
significant depth and breadth of resources and expertise in environmental teaching and
research, and that the development of new programs is feasible. The report of the
FEIPC has received the support of the proposed founding units of the new Faculty, and
the faculty members have reaffirmed their desire to see the new Faculty created, by
votes taken in those founding units.
As was previously discussed at Senate in April 2008, and as the report of the FEIPC
reconfirms, SFU is well positioned to provide a contribution to the global environmental
challenge through the creation of an Environment Faculty. The vision of potential new
programming for the Faculty is disciplinary and interdisciplinary. Building on the
substantial platform provided by existing curriculum and degree programs in
Geography, Environmental Science, and Resource and Environmental Management,
the potential of the new programming described in the FEIPC report will facilitate the
further growth and development of new graduate and undergraduate degree programs,
provide coherence and vision to teaching and research in this area, and will significantly
raise the profile of environmental research and education at SFU.
The proposals in the FEIPC report should be considered as an indicator of the
directions that new and existing interdisciplinary programming in the Faculty might take.
The report is about potential and proposed directions. Specific details of any
programmatic themes and potential curriculum described in the report would be
developed according to the University's normal curriculum and program development
processes, once the establishment of the Faculty receives full and final approval from
Senate. In addition, in order to give further reassurance that the potential discussed
can
representatives
be realized,
from
and further
Environmental
to the FEIPC
Science,
report,
Geography
a small working
and REM
group
have
consisting
worked
of
?
Ol
together to create a development timeline of the next steps required to focus and
implement the FEIPC recommendations. This document is attached, and in particular
indicates the processes that would be utilized to determine the following:
• Approval of programming
• Administrative structure and governance
• Naming the Faculty
The opportunity exists for SFU to become a leader in environmental programming
through the creation of the Environment Faculty that will focus internal and external
attention on our strengths in this field. The window exists for SFU to promote and
consolidate existing programming, as well as to expand into a solution-oriented and
integrated programming approach that will establish SFU's niche in the area of post-
secondary environmental education and research. SFU has a history of community
outreach blended with its academic programs. Public and political interests in pressing
environmental challenges have created synergy with the expertise that exists at SFU,
and that synergy should be capitalized upon. SFU has a strong base of
interdisciplinarity in teaching and research and interdisciplinarity is now an identified
priority in public and private funding initiatives. Approving a new Environment Faculty
will enable these initiatives to forge ahead while the energy and opportunity are high.
3. ?
/
• ?
Attachments:
i)
Faculty of Environment Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report (SCUP 08-
O
32)
ii)
FE/FES Blueprint and Development Timeline
iii)
Letter to Senate from School of Resource and Environmental Management
cc. Faculty of Environment Interdisciplinary Programming Committee:
J. Clague, L. Bendell, A. Clapp, K. Kohfeld, D. Allen, R. Anderson, M. Roseland, M.
Howlett, M. Gates, B. Wepruk
Blueprint and Development Timeline Working Group:
R. Hayter, L. Bendell, P. Williams, D. Knowler
.
4(.
?
I
scuP 08-36
I.
a,
a,
E
a,
EN
CL
O4
CL
it
a,
U,
w
.
=
---."i
Ef
CL
0.
a,
I,
- ------- - - --
------a, -- --
iIEITITIIIIII
CL
ca
ii
LL
__---—-1----
111111
=
I__
II
I
II
I
F
ell
X1
x
x
x
x
xx
)<
8
-
E
Lb
___ ___
xx
xxx
ii
I
Cl)
x
lix,
00
_
V IL
a
10
CL
'
Back to top
v--fl--
ca
x__
co
°
cm
;u!
iu
!
ca
i
I
H
I
E
1!
a,
< E.
?
i
CL
ca
V
&8
•
2 E
fliHilillil
9a 9?°
IIhtflh;
C.
I. ?
E
(
EE
-------x
C
0
U)
CU
U.E
-
,
-,
.
)<
•5
C
$
-------- ------ ----------------------
I )
-
H
g
c
-
----- -
—-(--—-——-
—-
-
o>.
cI
CL
•D
X.
.
-- ----- ------ ----- -------
--------- --
CE
X
CL
2
-—-<-
-
?
-
------ -—- — ---- .- --—-—- --—--
------
--
o
-
(no,
---- --- - -
------ ----- ---
x
-
---.
cl)
U,
--.-----
><
xx)<)<
—.
-
--------------- -
;p
--.-—<—--.<—-
-
-----.
((_.
.--
.A
j
Ux
-
X
XX
X
X
(5
Co
>
w
E
X
U
p
x XXX XX
X
X'
0.
XX
-
X
XX
X
X
•0
X
w•a
C,
C,
X
X
X
X0 XXX
C
X
X
X
X
°'
XIXX
2
Cl)
LL
-
2
>
W
LL
I
U)!
E
-
•
C,C
1111111
0
13
W
ZE
E
E0
oU.Ec
T
U-
.0
a
CL
E
!1119111119H
E cc
;ll
flH
fl
Co
H•H
!
i1!1
lIEN
C2,
sms
CL
E
cm a
CL
J!JiHi1h
rL
I
T
2
LL
0 E^
fl
-
V)C,E
ZUCl)WEQ
zP?F
C,
C,
E
C
C,
E
CL
O(4
u.
C
C
U.
CL
U)
C,
U,
.
S
.
2
•
a
C
C
C,
E
I
-
C
C,
E
CL o
Oti
CL
1
ro
LU
U.
.
cq
0
0
a.
il
x
x
x
x
x
xx
xxx
x
CL
(0
x
x
<
X
U
x
x x
CL
U.
J L
X,
U,
>( ?
)(
x
x
=
x
X1 ?
X,
x
x
C)
E ?
So
I
I
0
8
0
all
C)
W
£
2
E
0
0
a
.0
=
E
Lu
__ __
C
LL
m C o a
BE
.IID
0
C)
L0'
___•,___
2
co
'
0
c9
IL
2
CL
CL
D.
Q,2o
EIØ
2C
—
.
—
cm
a)
e
C)
0
C)
'0
•C
.:
Q
a
C 4
C
o
:L2
0
00
CL LL
.E
W
c
0
.
>
COE
—
o
a.
•
•.-
0
w
J1
to
0
.
-'_,
_2
I
.
.)
0
".2w
wo
C)
'o,o
oo
C
'0'
0
:
o
gc
:&-
.
.!
jIhtLi;Ih
'
i
I
t1I
IIH
!3
I
!UhII!iH!
11
!
flU
JHJ 1!J
°°
CM
C)
O ?
SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF RESOURCE AND
?
I1 ?
BURNABY, BRITISH COLUMBIA
ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
?
CANADA V5A 1S6
FACULTY OF APPLIED SCIENCES
?
Telephone: (778) 782-4659
Web: http://www.rem.sfu.ca ?
Fax: (778) 782-4968
November
5,
2008
To: Members of the SFU Senate and SCUP
Subject: Creation of the Faculty of the Environment -- vote on the
1St
of December 2008
Dear SFU Colleagues,
I am writing to you on behalf of the School of Resource and Environmental Management
(REM) to strongly support the formation at SFU of a Faculty of the Environment (or a similarly
named Faculty). This recommendation has support from all REM faculty members, who
unanimously passed the motion that "REM enthusiastically continues to support and participate
in the formation of a new Faculty of the Environment".
.
?
?
The reasons for our support are reflected in the recent report of the Faculty of Environment
Interdisciplinary Program Planning Committee chaired by John Clague in Earth Sciences. They
include:
1.
A new Faculty of the Environment will demonstrate SFU's commitment to play an active
role in addressing the environment and sustainability. The environment is an emerging global
societal issue and it will increasingly shape the lives of Canadians, the Canadian economy
and the workplace. The strong presence of SFU in the area of the environment is at the core
of our university's aspirations ("thinking of the world") and its commitment to develop
innovative integrative programs of high societal relevance.
2.
The new Faculty will help to meet SFU's goal to offer novel, interdisciplinary programs.
Achieving greater interdisciplinarity in academic programming was one of the main
objectives of the Faculty restructuring process. The new Faculty will create the conditions
needed to develop interdisciplinary academic programs in the area of the environment.
Interdisciplinary programs have had a difficult time at SFU because in most cases they have
not benefitted from the support of a Faculty devoted to their purpose. Therefore, it is
important that large interdisciplinary academic programs, such as one concerning the
environment, have the full support of a Faculty.
3.
A new Faculty of the Environment will create new opportunities for SFU to attract
undergraduate and graduate students over and above the current FTEs. There is currently a
• ?
strong demand from students for undergraduate and graduate programs in the environment
and this demand is expected to increase. Meanwhile, several other Canadian universities have
f.
2
already reacted to these emerging opportunities. SFU should act now - and act strongly - to
respond to this demand and develop the programs that are needed. SFU has much to offer
and has the capacity to play an active role. Throughout the university there are many faculty
members, students and staff with relevant expertise and interests. The new Faculty can
provide the academic leadership in the area of the environment that is needed for SFU to
better serve students and society.
4.
A new Faculty of the Environment will help SFU to attract new research and educational
funding that is above our current levels. This is particularly timely given the provincial
government's call to increase graduate education, including environmental education. A
strong commitment and presence in the environmental field will position SFU better to
receive funding from these public environmental initiatives (e.g. Pacific Institute for Climate
Solutions), but private sources (e.g. donations) are increasingly important as well.
Foundations such as the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the David and Lucite Packard
Foundation, the Bullitt Foundation and the PEW Charitable Trust are now, in some cases,
larger sources of environmental funding than traditional government agencies. Additionally,
the new Faculty will improve SFU's access to new sources of revenues that are currently
beyond SFU's grasp. These new resources will add to existing resources and provide greater
financial stability for the university.
5.
The new Faculty of the Environment will be able to build upon the strengths and track record
in teaching and research of the School of Resource and Environmental Management, the
Department of Geography, Development Studies and the Center for Sustainable Community
Development at SFU. Over the past 29 years, REM has developed an exemplary international
reputation in interdisciplinary applied research, graduate degree programs, and undergraduate
service courses. We have added to SFU's total graduate FTEs by offering a distinct
"integrative and applied" interdisciplinary program of study in the area of the environment,
not served in disciplinary programs at SFU. Students from our program have excelled at job
interviews and have received excellent positions in the area of resource and environmental
management.
6.
The new Faculty can be developed without incurring major costs because much of the
expertise and infrastructure needed to form the new Faculty is already present at SFU. The
units that will make up the new Faculty are existing units. The main environmental
undergraduate and graduate programs of the new Faculty have been in operation for many
years. Instead, it is the "packaging" and updated mix of courses and programs to be offered
by the new Faculty that constitute its greatest value added. The new Faculty of the
Environment has a modest initial agenda focused on reshaping the existing undergraduate
Environmental Science program. Potential new Faculty resources are expected to strengthen
this program, increase FTEs to the university, and reduce reliance on current faculty
members in the Faculty of Science and Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences.
In REM, we are looking forward to working with the Department of Geography,
Development Studies, the Center for Sustainable Community Development and others at SFU to
develop a strong presence for SFU in academic programming, research and community outreach
in the area of the environment. We support an agenda for the new Faculty that focuses on
q.
• ?
redesigning, streamlining, and presentation of the undergraduate environmental programs, the
development of new opportunities for graduate students in the environment, and improving SFUs
environmental presence in the local, regional and global communities. REM has much to gain
from the development of the new Faculty because our highly successful program requires an
appropriate academic home in which to thrive. At this point, we do not have this home and after
thorough discussion on several occasions REM faculty have been unanimous that no existing
regular faculty would be appropriate for us.
Thank you for considering these points. Feel free to contact me or any other Faculty
member of the School of Resource and Environmental Management to discuss this matter.
Sincerely,
/ e z
On Behalf of All REM Faculty Members,
Peter Williams
Acting Director
School of Resource and Environmental Management \
/0.
SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY
?
p$l
?
CLASSROOM COMPLEX, RCB 7123
8888 University Drive
?
Telephone: (604) 291-3321
Bumaby, British Columbia
?
Fax: (604)291-5841
CANADA V5A 1S6
http://www.sfu.ca/geography
Jon Driver
Academic Vice-President
Simon Fraser University
November 14 2008
Dear Jon:
RE: Faculty of Environment
This brief letter is to confirm Geography's enthusiastic support for the proposed Faculty
of Environment. As you know, Geography was a leading advocate for such a faculty at
the onset of the Faculty Restructuring Process, initiated by your predecessor, and our
initial proposal was developed in a submission in March 2007 to the SFU Phase 2 Task
.
?
Force. This proposal was extensively debated within Geography and we have been
Vigilant participants in discussions, in Task Force hearings, the FIEPC process and
related departmental discussions about the proposed Faculty's vision and
implementation.
For the University, we anticipate that the Faculty of Environment will have considerable
benefits. Concern for the environment cannot be divorced from the issue of human
development and, in general, the Faculty of Environment symbolizes the University's
commitment to Environment and Development, the principle challenges facing the
global community in the
21st
century. Clearly, the new faculty will most certainty
not
be
the home for all research and teaching on the environment (or development) within the
University. But the new Faculty of Environment will play vital, distinctive roles in offering
inter-disciplinary programmes with an environmental focus. Geography is itself a
remarkably inter-disciplinary discipline with its emphases on environmental processes,
GlScience, human behaviour in place and space, and human-environment interactions.
As a diverse discipline, Geography has long reached out and drawn upon expertise in a
wide range of disciplines and we will play our part in ensuring that the Faculty of
Environment is integrated with the expertise of the University as a whole.
REM and Environmental Science, along with Geography, the founding degree granting
organizations of the proposed Faculty offer complementary programmes that together
will provide undergraduate and graduate students with critical thinking and problem-
solving skills that are vital to deep ('basic') understanding of environmental and
/1.
development processes and to identifying appropriate policy approaches and their
evaluation.
In these financially challenged times, the costs involved in a new Faculty raise
questions. Yet, the proposed Faculty of Environment will be a relatively small, lean (yet
lively!) operation that will have an established faculty and student base. Moreover, its
existence is likely to help the general fund raising activities of the University, and
contribute to the development of strategic research grant applications based on
expertise within the Faculty and around the University as a whole.
Geography encourages Senate to vote for the new Faculty of Environment.
Best wishes,
Roger Hayter
Chair, Geography
.
0
SC ?
o:\
Faculty of Environment and Sustainability
Interdisciplinary Programming Committee
Report
Submitted
to the
Vice-President Academic
September 29, 2008
by
John J. Clague*
Diana Allen
Bob Anderson
Leah Bendell
Alex Clapp
Marilyn Gates
Michael Howlett
Karen Kohfeld
Mark Roseland
n
.
40 ?
*Commiftee Chair
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
Contents
Page
Executive Summary
3
Preface
7
Introduction
7
Committee and report background
7
Mandate of Committee: Terms of reference
8
Committee members
8
Committee activity
9
Principles underpinning Committee's work
9
Existing Capacity in Environment and Sustainability at SFU
10
Initial Composition of FES
10
Recommended Faculty Name, Mission, and Vision
11
Academic Themes and Interdisciplinary Programs
11
Academic themes
12
Common program elements
13
Common aspects of FES lPs
14
Proposed new lPs
15
Graduate Programs
17
Research and Teaching
18
SFU Niche
20
Demand
20
Market: Current climate and future research
20
Target student base: Credentials and careers
21
Competition
21
Community Involvement and Outreach
22
Integration with Other Faculties
22'
SFU centres and institutes with environmental strengths and missions
23
Other SFU interests in FES
23
Inter-institutional interests
23
Administrative Structure to Support IPs
24
Structure models
24
Urgency of Establishment of FES
25
The Way Forward
26
Further discussion
26
Further development of the Environmental Science Program
26
Secondment and joint appointment of faculty outside founding units
27
Funding examples
27
External collaborations
27
First Nations
27
External Advisory Committee
28
Recommendations
28
Appendices
30
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
0
Executive summary
An Interdisciplinary Program Planning Committee was created in April 2008 by former Vice-
President Academic John Waterhouse to propose new programming at the undergraduate and
graduate levels for the new Faculty of Environment and Sustainability (new proposed name,
referred to subsequently as FES). The Committee was instructed to report back to Senate
regarding this programming by Fall, 2008. The programming must be of an integrative nature,
spanning the humanities, social sciences, and physical sciences. Among other aspects,
consideration was given to how programs currently offered by the founding units of FES will be
included in the suite of programs offered by the Faculty. Additionally, students from outside the
Faculty must have access to Faculty courses, and relevant courses offered by other Faculties
should be included in Faculty programs wherever feasible. The programs should enhance the
research capacity of the Faculty, as well as the capacity of SFU for community engagement.
This report provides evidence that FES is widely supported across the SFU community, that the
Faculty's programming will have pedagogical relevance and bring together and rationalize
teaching on the environment, and that FES is a timely and appropriate strategic direction for the
University. Taken together, these factors demonstrate that the Faculty is viable.
It is imperative that FES be approved and developed now, not only to bring the new Faculty on
track with the overall faculty restructuring efforts, but also to align SFU with the similar
developments at other universities and to respond to public, media, and government concerns
about environmental issues. There is a high level of interest and energy to move this Faculty
ahead that must be acted upon now or the opportunity may be lost.
The new Faculty is also timely because SFU will be able to capitalize on public funding
initiatives, interagency ventures, and donor interests. Strong competition exists for external
funding of university initiatives in the environment and sustainability, and the window for SFU to
capitalize on these opportunities is narrow. The University risks falling far behind if there are any
delays in proceeding with FES.
The founding units of FES are the Department of Geography, the School of Resource and
Environmental Management (REM), the Environmental Science Program, the Development
Studies program and the Centre for Sustainable Community Development (CSCD). These five
units will enter the Faculty at startup in April 2009 in their current form, with their existing
curricula, governance, and resources. The Faculty will maintain established curricula so that
degrees in existing programs continue to be awarded. Existing curricula will also be a platform
for future program development.
Research and teaching within FES initially will be delivered through the Faculty's founding units.
The success of the Faculty, however, depends crucially on involving faculty of other University
units, from outside of FES. Faculty mobility and cross-appointments should be encouraged and
enabled.
The Faculty should be founded on a broad definition of the environment, including natural, built,
social, and organizational environments. It necessarily includes theory, science, policy, and
practice in all fields. It also embraces other traditions of enquiry that are not motivated by
questions of human-nature relations, such as the many cultural, social, and economic aspects
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report ?
4
of urban studies and sustainable communities, the geological
tradition
in earth sciences, and the
society-space
The Faculty will
tradition
blend existing
in geography.
interdisciplinary
?
environmental programs
with
important
new
0
thematic interdisciplinary programs
(lPs) to which one or more founding units and units or
individuals outside of the Faculty will
contribute.
This
report
proposes four IPs, but does not
preclude development of others or
further
development of existing programs. The lPs embody
themes in environmental research that bridge all of the founding units, and their inclusion and
promotion in FES will help SFU realize synergies between units
currently
divided among
different faculties. The lPs will enable those units and others to work
together,
allow the
University
to
better
utilize existing
strengths
and
resources, demonstrate
that the Faculty is
unique and visionary, and
attract
students and FTEs. The IPs also offer exciting core
programming and the potential for
demonstrating
the demand for FES credentials.
Four broad themes capture the spirit and intent of the new Faculty and are proposed as IPs: (1)
Global Systems and Sustainability Strategies; (2) Biodiversity, Ecosystems and Conservation;
(3)
Environment and Development;
and
(4) Water and Environment.
The
Interdisciplinary
Program Planning Committee envisions that these broad foundation programs could support a
range of more specific programs. One such specific program, a possible
B.Sc. in Water
Science, is
illustrated
in a form it might take to show that it is deliverable with the resources and
faculty
currently
existing at the University.
Global Systems and Sustainability Strategies
The focus of this new
interdisciplinary
program is
global systems
as they pertain to the natural
environment, as they
interact
with social and economic systems, and as they are addressed by
environmental policy and governance. The lP provides room for growth and a home for
future,
more specific
programs.
It logically fits within FES and ensures
interdisciplinarity
and practical
application of research into policy and management. What separates this program from those
existing at other universities is a focus on sustainable
strategies
as solutions to
environmental
issues. Solutions to
environmental
problems
require integration
of knowledge of both natural
and social systems. This
integrated
approach with a focus on applied problems will provide a
unique educational niche for SFU students to evaluate solutions to environmental problems.
The IP is intentionally broad in order to provide a means of capturing new and innovative
directions that will develop within FES. Specific foci that might exist beneath this
interdisciplinary
umbrella include, but are not limited to, environmental governance; climate change, mitigation,
and adaptation; and a Master of Climate Action and Sustainability Leadership.
Biodiversity, Ecosystems, and Conservation
A successful FES must have ecological studies at its core. Addressing environmental
challenges will require ever-growing scientific knowledge and monitoring of Earth's changing
ecosystems, as well as an understanding of impacts of societal changes on policies,
institutions,
and practices. The educational goal of this program is to prepare students to meet future
challenges by providing them with a solid basis that
integrates
biodiversity, ecosystems, and
conservation, while building a practical understanding of the ways that natural and conservation
sciences are used in policy-making and management of ecological systems. SFU has an
opportunity to carve out a niche with this program by providing a unique curriculum with distinct
linkages between the natural and social sciences. SFU already has
strengths
in this research
area in REM, Biological Sciences, Geography, and several Centres.
.
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
Environment and Development
The
Environment and Development
program focuses on sustainable forms of development in
the context of current unsustainable practices and their complex consequences. It examines the
nature of the world's 'environmental movements'. Programming will be based on the premise
that human impacts on ecological systems are largely manifested through development activity.
Development in this context includes economic, technological, and industrial advancement, and
social development of urban and rural settlements. Research on the ecological impact of
resource use and production will be complemented by research on human environments -for
example, urban settlements and landscapes, and the cultural and social practices they embody
and articulate. This broad-based interdisciplinarity is required because, while social structures,
systems, and networks create environments as places characterized by the human interactions
that happen within them, individuals, groups, and societies socially construct and give meaning
to many understandings of 'environment'. These constructs arise within the context of scientific
and traditional knowledge about natural processes and phenomena. Public and private
disagreements arise in the context of those understandings. The program will develop and test
sustainable solutions to current and future environmental problems related to socio-economic
advancement and will prepare students to become engaged in the development of new
strategies for sustainability.
Environment and Development
encompasses a range of research
and policy concerns in both developed and developing countries.
Water and Environment
Water quantity and quality issues are assuming increasing importance owing to growing water
demand, changes in land-use, and competing interests for this resource. Universities have a
major responsibility to educate future water scientists, managers, and policymakers to meet
. ?
these challenges. Water is an immensely complex subject that requires mastery of many
disciplines. The goal of the
Water and Environment
program is to provide students with training
in the hydrologic and climate sciences, and with complementary strengths in environmental
economics, biology, ecology, oceanography, coastal systems, social sciences, and law. Few
interdisciplinary programs in water exist in Canada and elsewhere. The proposed
Water and
Environment
program at SFU will be unique in that it will view water from an interdisciplinary
perspective. It will establish SFU as a leader in water-related education in Canada. A
Water
Science
degree, proposed within the
Water and Environment
program, is described in detail to
demonstrate that it is viable with current University courses, resources, and research. SFU has
a strong foundation in the physical sciences dealing with water.
General features of FES
New interdisciplinary programming within FES will follow a flexible template that provides all
students with at least an overview of the environmental, economic, social, and institutional
aspects of sustainability, while also allowing them to specialize more deeply in one of those
areas. This idea has been incorporated into the proposed IPs through common core and
capstone courses. Integration of interdisciplinary programming is justified in terms of the four
pillars of sustainability: productive, natural environments; economically viable systems;
sustainable social communities; and appropriate structures for institutions to achieve the other
three pillars.
Co-operative education, international experiences, and other forms of experiential learning
should be institutionalized and broadly available within FES to provide students with practical
experience in their field of specialization.
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report ?
6
An overarching FES goal should be to contribute to educating an environmentally informed
citizenry. This goal can be achieved through the Faculty's curricula, but it also requires broader
involvement in the University and external communities through, for example, public
environmental literacy courses and community sustainability initiatives.
An opportunity exists for including in FES interdisciplinary programming of units outside the
Faculty. SFU academic units that may wish to participate in FES programs, in addition to the
founding units, include Archaeology, Biological Sciences, Communications, Chemistry, Earth
Sciences, First Nations Studies, Humanities, Sociology and Anthropology, and Urban Studies.
FES programs will deliver existing programs and courses from its founding units, but new
programs will also be developed jointly with other Faculties. Possible exciting linkages exist with
Health Sciences (global health), Business Administration (environmental economics),
Engineering Science (environmental engineering), and Education (science and environmental
education).
Faôulty governance is the responsibility of the Office of the Dean, but FES is a hybrid faculty like
no other in the University, and the administrative structure will have to support all units and
facilitate programming across them and beyond. Participation of individuals and units outside
the founding units of FES must be encouraged. It is essential to have a unifying administrative
structure for new programming that will facilitate ongoing lP support. Such an administrative
structure will provide a focal point for the advancement of new, innovative, and interdisciplinary
research; ensure the delivery of excellent undergraduate programs; provide administrative
support and representation for smaller units within the faculty; provide a home for faculty
secondments, CRCs, and adjunct positions involved in undergraduate and graduate programs;
solicit donors; and be responsible for community outreach efforts. An 'institute' is the
Committee's favoured administrative home for the lPs and possibly some of the small, non-
departmental units that will enter the Faculty.
The Committee recommends that an External Advisory Committee be established to advise the
Dean on further development of FES. This committee would provide valuable informed 'outsider'
advice on development of the Faculty and could serve as a bridge to professional, political, and
other bodies. The External Advisory Committee should include, but not be limited to
representatives of First Nations, environmental NGOs, the private sector, and SFU student
groups.
0
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
Preface
Change is a salient characteristic of biophysical, social, ecological, economic, and political
systems; often their one constant is change itself. Much change is unpredictable because we do
not know enough about the human use of the environment and the interactions of various
aspects of the environment with each other. Environmental changes associated with increasing
population and economic activity are seen to be threatening to communities, nations and even
the planet itself.
Protection of the integrity of ecosystem functions and processes requires an understanding of
human uses and interactions with the environment. Threats posed by changes to Earth's
environment necessitate an interdisciplinary approach to problem-solving and education.
Contributions of technology, the natural sciences, humanities, and social sciences are all
necessary to understand and solve environmental problems.
SFU is well positioned to tackle major problems such as the eight grand challenges for the
future of environmental science identified by the U.S. National Research Council.
1
This
approach is forward-looking and would distinguish SFU from many of the environmental
initiatives that have been developed at other Canadian universities over the past 20 years.
Introduction
Committee and report background
An Interdisciplinary Program Planning Committee was created by the Vice-President Academic
S
in June 2008 to prepare a report on undergraduate and graduate curricula for a new Faculty of
the Environment and Sustainability (FES). Following provisional approval of the Faculty by SFU
Senate, the committee was given specific terms of reference (see below), and the chair and
members of the committee were appointed by John Waterhouse, who at that time was Vice-
President Academic.
The Interdisciplinary Program Planning Committee was created to provide further justification of
FES to Senate, which is the body empowered to formally approve the new Faculty. The
Committee report is advisory to the Vice-President Academic, who will take it forward to Senate.
Once the report is submitted to the Vice-President Academic and Senate approves FES,
planning will occur through normal processes within the new Faculty under direction of the Dean
and with the involvement of the units in FES and individuals outside it.
Senate approved the Faculty in principle in April 2007, but required further assurances that: (1)
the Faculty would be widely supported at SFU; (2) the Faculty's programming would have
pedagogical relevance and would bring together and rationalize teaching on the environment;
(3) a new FES is an appropriate strategic direction for the University; and (4) the Faculty is
viable. This report demonstrates that capacity exists within the University (teaching staff,
research, and resources) and that a new Faculty has the potential to function effectively, to offer
distinctive programming, and to make SFU a leader in environmental pedagogy and research.
1 2001 Report by the National Research Council,
Grand Challenges in Environmental Sciences.
The report identifies
the following eight grand challenges: (1) biogeochemicat cycles, (2) biological diversity and ecosystem functioning,
S ?
'(3)
climate variability, (4) hydrologic forecasting, (5) infectious disease and the environment, (6) institutions and
resource use, (7) land-use dynamics, and (8) reinventing the use of materials.
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
8
This report is a conceptual document. The Committee considered the structure of the Faculty as
it might impact the delivery of new programming, recognizing that existing programming in
founding units would continue. It did not have the mandate, to recommend structures that are
the rightful responsibility of the new dean, once appointed. University policies such as the
Centre and Institutes Policy
and
Appointments Policy
provided only background information.
Any changes to policies necessary to support the new Faculty will be addressed by those who
have responsibility for those policies.
The Committee was not able to reach consensus on every detail of every proposal, but it
enthusiastically supports moving forward with FES. All parties involyed in the work of the past
few months recognize the potential for FES to be highly successful. Just as important, there is
the necessary good will and collegiality among the founding units and other cognate areas to
make the new Faculty a reality.
Mandate of Committee: Terms of reference
The Interdisciplinary Program Planning Committee's terms of references, established by the
Vice-President Academic, are to:
• Propose undergraduate programming in the field of the environment and sustainability of an
integrative nature, bringing together knowledge from the humanities, social sciences and the
sciences into thematic areas in the environment.
• Propose graduate programming in the field of the environment and sustainability of an
integrative nature, bringing together knowledge from the humanities, social sciences and the
sciences.
• Identify how programs currently offered by the constituent units of the Faculty at both the
graduate and undergraduate level will be included in the suite of programs offered by the
Faculty.
• In developing program proposals, ensure that students from outside the Faculty will have
access to Faculty courses and that relevant courses offered by other Faculties are included
in Faculty programs wherever feasible.
Develop programs that will enhance the research capacity of the Faculty.
Develop programs that will enhance the capacity of SFU for community engagement.
The terms of reference also require that guidelines be proposed for an administrative framework
that will allow FES to succeed.
Committee members
John Waterhouse appointed John Clague as Chair of the Interdisciplinary Program Planning
Committee. In consultation with Dr. Clague, he created a committee that would represent the
founding units of FES, as well as other cognate units that contribute to teaching and research
on the environment, for example Earth Sciences and Sociology and Anthropology. The
Committee members and their home units are:
John Clague, Chair (Earth Sciences)
Diana Allen (Earth Sciences)
Bob Anderson (Communication)
Leah Bendell (Biological Sciences, Environmental Science)
Alex
Clapp*
(Geography)
Marilyn Gates (Sociology and Anthropology)
FES InterdiscipLinary Programming Committee Report
?
9
Michael Howlett (Political Science)
. ?
Karen Kohfeld (Resource and Environmental Management)
Mark Roseland (Centre for Sustainable Community Development, Geography)
*Dr
.
Clapp replaced Roger Hayter (Geography) in August.
Barbara Wepruk served as the Committee Administrative Coordinator and Researcher.
Committee activity
Committee meetings were held on:
June 20
June 27
August 25
September 2
September 19
September 25
Much of the Committee's work and discussion was accomplished through e-mail. The Vice-
President Academic instructed the Committee to submit its report no later than September 29 in
order to support approval processes and timelines for creation and implementation of the new
Faculty. Following presentation of proposals to Senate in November, the Committee's mandate
will be fulfilled and it will disband. Due to the short time the Committee had to deliberate and
formulate a report, the Vice-President Academic advised the Committee that its
recommendations did not require wide consultation within FES units. Nevertheless, Committee
members representing FES units have informed their colleagues, and some faculty members
. ?
from outside the Committee have provided feedback. In addition, a well attended public
meeting, chaired by Dr. Clague, was held at the Burnaby Mountain campus on September 25 to
inform the University community on the Committee's recommendations, to receive further input
from faculty, staff and students, and to answer questions.
Principles underpinning Committee's work
1. The new Faculty must offer undergraduate and graduate students a stimulating and
challenge curriculum and research environment that integrates the humanities and the
natural, applied, and social sciences.
2. The Faculty will balance science and social science content and perspectives. More
specifically, the curriculum must include theoretical, critical, and applied perspectives that
are integrated contributions of technology, the natural sciences, humanities, and social
sciences, all of which are necessary. to understand and solve complex environmental
problems.
3. The structure for the new Faculty must have mechanisms that will:
a.
achieve balance, thus enabling and supporting future interdisciplinary
programming;
b.
provide flexibility to allow for growth and to incorporate perspectives from others;
c.
allow for cohesive unit and program growth and expansion;
d.
ensure equitable input by all units into Faculty management and development.
4. New programs in the Faculty will focus on existing strengths and take the long-term view
for further development. The Faculty should not try to do everything.
0
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
IDJ
5.
Development of social, and communication skills of students should be encouraged and
incorporated into course content wherever possible.
?
01
6.
The curriculum must include experiential learning opportunities, provided for example
through field work, student internships, SFU International, and the SFU Co-op Program.
7.
The undergraduate programs should have components that lead to an environmental
degree as well as components that develop an environmental competence to accompany
discipline-based majors.
8.
The Faculty must strive to reach and serve the public, including non-traditional groups
such as indigenous communities. Some element of community-based pedagogy is
desirable.
9.
Sustainability and the urban environment must be key components of the new Faculty's
raison d'etre.
10.
Faculty members must have respect for others' disciplines and be open to collaborative
and integrative research and teaching.
The Committee reviewed the extensive consultation process for the new Faculty that took place
in 2007, prior to the Senate vote to provisionally approve the Faculty. Among other things, the
Committee considered the
Report on Environment Visioning Workshop
(Appendix 1), which
articulated part of the vision that appears in this report. The workshop was facilitated by Dr. Jock
Munro, who also wrote its report. Several Committee members contributed to the visioning
workshop.
The Committee reviewed current environmental programming, research, and teaching within the
University and at selected other post-secondary institutions.
?
0
Existing Capacity in Environment and Sustainability at SFU
Existing capacity at SFU in the environment and sustainability is tabulated in Appendix 2
(Existing Environmental Programs at SFU), Appendix 3 (SFU Existing Environmental Courses)
and Appendix 4 (SFU Existing Expertise within FES). Initially, research and teaching within FES
will be delivered by the Faculty's founding units, however the success of new programming
hinges on involving faculty from other units, perhaps even entire units. These other units
include, but are not limited to Archaeology, Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Communications,
Criminology, Earth Sciences, Humanities, Philosophy, Political Sciences, Sociology and
Anthropology, and Urban Studies. Degree programs in FES might provide a strong complement
to the thematic IPs proposed below, to existing undergraduate programs such as those in
Environmental Science and Geography, and to graduate programs such as the REM MRM,
Geography M.A. and M.Sc. programs, Ph.D. programs in Geography and REM, and the
Development Studies Certificate program.
Initial Composition of FES
The founding units of FES are the Department of Geography, the School of Resources and
Environmental Management (REM), the Environmental Science Program, the Development
Studies Program, and the Centre for Sustainable Community Development (CSCD). These five
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
11
units will enter the Faculty at startup in April 2009 in their current form, with their existing
curricula, governance, and resources.
The Faculty will maintain established curricula so that credentials in existing programs continue
to be awarded.
Recommended Faculty Name, Mission, and Vision
Name:
Faculty of Environment and Sustainability
Important but currently scattered teaching and research strengths at SFU are embraced and
championed by the words 'environment' and 'sustainability'. The words also capture broader
public, private sector, and government concerns that will dominate the public agenda through
the remainder of this century. 'Sustainability' is intimately and inextricably associated with the
environment and provides a balance to programming that is often seen to focus too much on
physical sciences.
Mission:
The Faculty of Environment and Sustainability exists to:
• prepare students to analyze environmental problems and advocate imaginative and
sustainable solutions;
• create a dynamic atmosphere for conducting multi-disciplinary research that promotes
better understanding of complex ecological and social phenomena.
• promote interdisciplinary research and teaching on natural and human environments and
their interactions.
Vision:
The Faculty of Environment and Sustainability will:
• explore the structure, integrity, and function of ecosystems and their distinct biophysical
bases, with emphasis on local, regional, and global connectivity;
• create new understandings of past and present human developments so that the future
can be better managed in its ecological context;
• critically appraise the risks associated with disturbed ecosystems and environmental
conflict, and prepare students to negotiate new agreements, policies, and forms of
governance to address those risks;
• promote a broad spectrum of critical scholarly and professional enquiry both within
environmental fields and beyond them, and integrate new understandings with other
humanist, social science, and scientific paradigms, including indigenous knowledge, in
order to enhance their total explanatory power;
• strengthen multi-disciplinary approaches to the environment through the entire University
and infuse them with the possibilities of sustainable development;
• inspire continuing leadership through the professional lifespan of faculty and staff, and
maintain active working contact with expert networks built among our alumni, students,
and communities; and
• build and enhance connections with other international programs that compare
unsustainable development with sustainable change.
The mission and vision will be further discussed by the founding units and will require ratification
once the Faculty is established.
9
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
12
Academic Themes and Interdisciplinary Programs
FES will deliver existing SFU environmental programs and new interdisciplinary programs (IPs)
to which two or more founding units and units or individuals outside the Faculty can contribute.
The broad framework of an administrative structure that fosters and protects interdisciplinary
programs is proposed below:
Academic themes
The Committee recommends broad, guiding programming that will enable the new Dean to
move forward with planning detailed programming and the related approval processes. The
programs proposed here have the support of the Faculty founding units and demonstrate the
considerable potential and capacity for a new Faculty of Environment and Sustainability.
The IN proposed in this report:
• provide a framework for founding units and units or individuals from outside FES to work
together on interdisciplinary programs;
• allow the University to better utilize existing strengths and resources;
• demonstrate that the Faculty is visionary and offers the potential for exciting core
programming that capitalizes on the curricula of existing units, but is broader than can be
achieved by any single unit alone;
• show that there is demand for FES and that it will be attractive to students.
Earth is constantly changing as a result of natural processes, of which social and economic
systems are an integral part. In the past few decades, the international community has
recognized the importance of not only increasing our scientific understanding of changes of the
Earth system, but also of linking our scientific findings in a meaningful way to policy decisions
and the management of natural and human systems on a variety of spatial and temporal scales.
In light of these realities, the Committee proposes four broad thematic areas of new
programming, while recognizing that other configurations are possible. It viewed this
programming from faculty and student perspectives. Specifically considered were the answers
to questions: "What
type of degree would/like to get?"
and
"In what type of new program would
I like to teach and do research?"
The four broad programs capture the spirit and intent of a new
Faculty of Environment and Sustainability. The
Biodiversity, Ecosystems and Conservation
program is essential interdisciplinary ecological programming for a faculty focused on the
environment and sustainability. Global Systems and Sustainability Strategies
is also
interdisciplinary; it moves beyond the theoretical by addressing solutions to the key problems
facing natural and human systems today.
Environment and
Development
broadens
the social
science focus of development studies to include foundations in the physical science of water,
resources, and waste. Similarly,
Water and Environment
encompasses the sciences of
hydrology and climate, as well as disciplines that address issues of water use, law, and policy
analysis. These themes recognize that people and the environment are intimately and
complexly linked and that innovative cross-disciplinary programming is required to understand
this interplay.
The Committee envisions that these four broad thematic programs will support a range of more
specific programs that provide students with an understanding of how humans and natural
systems interact to affect the environment at scales ranging from local to global. The specific
programs will place this knowledge within the context of social and economic systems, including
policy analysis, governance, and management for the mitigation of, and adaptation to, those
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
13
changes. One such specific program is
Water Science (B.Sc.),
which falls under the
Water and
S ?
Environment IP.
It has been developed in detail to show that it can be delivered largely with the
resources and faculty existing at the University.
The first set of thematic Ps created for FES is important because it will define the Faculty's
intellectual terrain. The IPs need to be a small, strategically chosen subset of the possible
options. Significant is interweaving the IPs with each other and between supporting units in
order to define that terrain across the Faculty as a whole.
Common program elements
Interdisciplinary programs require a sense of continuity and common themes that justify their
coexistence within one functioning, cohesive faculty. This idea has been incorporated into the
proposed programs through common courses within each IP.
Integration of all interdisciplinary programming is justified in terms of balancing the four pillars of
sustainability: productive, natural environments; economically viable systems; sustainable social
communities; and appropriate structures for institutions to support the other three pillars. Each
interdisciplinary program has each of the pillars represented within their curriculum, with
changes in emphasis depending on the program. For example, a science program might
emphasize the study of ecological systems and quantitative techniques, whereas a social
science program might emphasize the study of governance structures and cultural dynamics.
New interdisciplinary programming within FES will follow a flexible template that provides all
students with an overview of the environmental, economic, social, and institutional dimensions
of sustainability, while also allowing them to specialize more deeply in at least one of those
areas.
The Committee recommends core and capstone courses initially for students in new IPs and
eventually for all environmental programming in FES. These should include a core
?
year
course and a capstone 4 th
year course:
• A first-year course that introduces the four-pillar model of sustainability, thereby
providing an initial framework in which students will build their knowledge of global
systems. REM 100 might provide a model for this course.
• A fourth-year capstone seminar or workshop that is problem-oriented and would allow
students to apply their learning to an explicit, modern-day environmental problem or
situation. This course would provide students with experience in cross-disciplinary
dialogue and different modes of delivery that they will encounter when working with
people of different backgrounds and cultures in the 'real world'.
Core courses might also be offered at the 2
nd
and 3
rd
year levels. Examples include a course in
'environmental ethics' that incorporates examples of environmentally responsible citizenry and
helps provide a cultural lens through which environmental, economic, and social issues and
initiatives might be viewed; and a course in 'resource management institutions' that places an
emphasis on both traditional and new and innovative governance structures including
international and global interactions.
In keeping with the philosophy that underpins the fourth-year capstone course, other upper-level
required courses might be developed that incorporate cross-disciplinary dialogues and real-
world problem-solving approaches to expand on students' abilities to understand and deal with
complex environmental problems.
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
14
The Committee also recommends that Co-operative education, field schools, international
activities, and other forms of experiential learning be established in FES to provide students with
practical experience in their field of specialization prior to graduation. In this context, there is a
natural fit between the programming that will be offered by FES and that currently offered by the
Semester in Dialogue and SFU International.
The focus of the IPs is at the undergraduate level, but the potential exists for development of
more focused programming at the graduate level. For example, the Masters in Climate Action
and Sustainability Leadership (MCASL), which is currently being developed by faculty at SFU,
UBC, BUT and ECIAD at the Great Northern Way Campus, provides an excellent springboard
for future programs developed in FES. Additionally, existing graduate programs at SFU offered,
for example, by Archaeology, Biological Sciences, Earth Sciences, Economics, Geography,
Public Policy, REM, Development Studies, and Sociology and Anthropology have the potential
to contribute to, and draw students from, FES.
An administrative consideration for the Dean will be alternatives to FTE and student majors as
basis for resource allocation. Such alternatives would enhance connections across existing
units and programs and promote avenues for greater student participation in FES overall
programming.
Common aspects of FES IPs
• IP themes capture and convey the essence of a new, interdisciplinary Faculty focused
on environment and sustainability.
• Broad conceptual programs proposed here provide the new Dean with the framework for
moving forward into detailed program development.
• Interdisciplinarity is consciously programmed into lPs. No degree can include all aspects
offered by the Faculty, but programs must demonstrate interdisciplinary coverage.
• IPs provide unique positioning for SFU in academic environmental programming.
• Programs will capture the interest and enthusiasm of students.
• The Institute housing the IPs can provide a forum for faculty to contribute meaningfully to
them.
• Programs should achieve a balance between the need for focused credentials with
breadth.
• There can be no duplication of courses across units and Faculties.
• The Faculty should offer a common introductory course and one or more capstone
courses to emphasize the interconnectivity of disciplines and strengthen students' sense
of institutional belonging.
• Interdisciplinarity must have practical 'real world' perspectives.
• Accreditation for professional credentials should be incorporated into programs.
• Programs should have permeable boundaries and not be exclusive. Students will be
encouraged to come from, or go to, other places for courses, and the Faculty should
enable such exchange.
• Flexibility in curriculum and the ability to further develop the curriculum are essential.
• Timely program completion is essential.
• Course prerequisites across Faculties will require special consideration. For example,
science prerequisites are tightly set; waivers are currently problematic. Internal FES unit
waivers can be more flexible.
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report ?
15
Proposed new IPs
Global Systems and Sustainability Strategies
Global Systems and Sustainable Strategies
(Appendix 5a) provides room for growth and a
home for future, more specific programs. The program logically fits within FES and ensures
interdisciplinarity and practical application of research into policy and management.
'Global change' is often considered synonymous with 'climate change'; however this SFU
program would differentiate itself with a focus on
global systems
as they pertain to the natural
environment, as they interact with social and economic systems, and as they are addressed by
environmental policy and governance at local to global scales. What also separates this
program from others is a focus on strategies to achieve sustainability as solutions to
environmental issues. Solutions to environmental problems require integration of knowledge of
both natural and social systems. This integrated approach, with its focus on applied problems,
offers a unique educational niche for SFU students to evaluate solutions to environmental
problems that currently exist or are expected to arise. Researchers in this program will develop
new strategies that integrate an understanding of social and natural systems and that therefore
provide more effective approaches to sustainable development.
This IP is intentionally broad in order to provide a means of capturing new and innovative
directions that could be developed within FES. However, there are several specific foci that
might exist beneath its interdisciplinary umbrella. These foci would be reflected in a series of
focused, upper-division courses that provide expertise in one area of Global Systems, for
example Environmental Governance; Climate Change, Mitigation, and Adaptation; and a Master
of Climate Action and Sustainability Leadership (MCASL).
Biodiversity, Ecosystems, and Conservation
A successful FES must have ecological studies at its core. Addressing environmental
challenges will require much new scientific knowledge and monitoring of Earth's changing
ecosystems, as well as a better understanding of impacts of societal changes on policies,
institutions, and practices.
The goal of this program is to prepare students to meet future challenges by providing them with
a solid basis that integrates biodiversity, ecosystems, and conservation, while building a
practical understanding of the ways that natural and conservation sciences are used in policy-
making and management of ecological systems (Appendix 5b). The program title expresses the
rationale: 'biodiversity' captures the range of issues related to organismal biology and diversity;
'ecosystems' ensures that broader issues tying biodiversity to both ecological and physical
processes are represented; and 'conservation' indicates that both of these are being viewed
through an applied lens, with clear relationships to the relevant social sciences as well. SFU has
a unique opportunity to carve out a niche with this program by providing concrete linkages
between the natural and social sciences. This combined focus at the undergraduate level would
be unique to SFU. The IP will have a social science component that addresses how the natural
science will be used in conservation; i.e. political and practical use of scientific knowledge.
SFU already has existing strengths to support this program and a good complement of existing
courses, programs, and expertise (Appendices 2, 3, and 4).
L
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
16
Environment and Development
This program focuses on sustainable forms of development in the context of current
unsustainable practices and their complex consequences (Appendix 5c). The program will
develop and test sustainable solutions to current and future environmental problems related to
socio-economic advancement and will prepare students to become engaged in the development
of new strategies for sustainability.
Environment and Development
encompasses a broad range
of research and policy concerns in both developed and developing countries, and examines the
nature of world 'environmental movements'. Programming will be based on the premise that
human impacts on ecological systems are largely manifested through development activity.
Development, in this context, includes economic, technological, and industrial advancement,
and social development of urban and rural settlements. Research on the ecological impact of
resource use and production will be complemented by research on human environments - for
example, urban settlements and landscapes, and the cultural and social practices they embody
and articulate. This broad-based interdisciplinarity is required because, although social
structures, systems, and networks create environments as places characterized by the human
interactions that happen within them, individuals, groups, and societies socially construct and
give meaning to many understandings of 'environment'. These constructs arise within the
context of scientific and traditional knowledge about natural processes and phenomena. This IP
will address public and private conflict that arises in the context of those understandings.
Water and Environment
Water quantity and quality issues are becoming increasingly important owing to growing water
demand, changes in land-use, and competing interests for the resource. Universities have a
responsibility to educate future water scientists, managers, and policymakers to meet these
challenges. Water is an immensely compJex subject that requires mastery of many disciplines,
from the sciences of hydrology, chemistry, and climatology to an understanding of social
organization and the law. The goal of the
Water and Environment I
is to provide students with
a solid foundation in hydrologic and climate sciences, with complementary strengths in
environmental economics, biology, ecology, social sciences, and law (Appendix 5d). Students
and faculty within this program will study the impacts of environmental change on water
availability and sustainability. They will quantify changes, assess impacts of future change, and
apply this knowledge to develop strategies and policies to effectively protect and manage water
resources, to mitigate harmful effects of environmental change, and to adapt to changes that
cannot be mitigated.
Few interdisciplinary water programs exist in Canada and elsewhere, despite the importance of
water at all scales. The proposed
Water and Environment
program at SFU will be unique in that
it will view water from an interdisciplinary perspective and make SFU a leader in water-related
education in Canada. SFU has significant strengths in the hydrologic sciences, marine biology,
marine fisheries management and conservation, coastal zone management, water
management, and policy that make a water-focused IP practical and achievable.
Water and Environment
could be a stand-alone program or it could nest within
Global Systems
and Sustainability
Strategies. It could offer a single degree program that emphasizes science
with interdisciplinarity strengthened by common lP courses and humanities and social science
breadth courses. An alternative is that two degree programs might be offered, one focused on
science and the other on socio-economic and management issues.
One possible degree program
(B.Sc. in Water Science)
has been mapped out in a preliminary
fashion to demonstrate that the new resources required for its delivery are minimal and that it
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
17
draws on a wide range of courses and research expertise relevant to water from across campus
. ?
(Appendices 5 and 6). New resources required for this possible program are three courses and
the proposed common capstone and introductory courses. The degree program proposed here
is only one possible model for delivering water science to undergraduate students within FES.
Much further discussion will be needed as part of new program development under the new
Dean, and this discussion should involve all interested faculty.
Graduate Programs
Graduate student education is essential for the success of university-based research activities
and is central to the mission of a research-intensive university. Graduate students are important
members of the research community, both as research assistants and independent scholars.
Graduate degrees currently constitute 18% of the University total.
Two FES founding units, REM and Geography, have flourishing graduate student programs.
All M.Sc. students in REM and many M.Sc. and Ph.D. students in Geography are engaged in
environmental studies, working with faculty whose primary research interests lie within the
disciplines of the physical or social environment, or sustainability. In addition, a large number
of faculty in other units at SFU, for example Archaeology, Biology, Chemistry, Earth Sciences,
and Sociology and Anthropology, are engaged in research that contributes to the mission of
FES. The proposed Institute of Environment and Sustainability could be the place for faculty in
these other units to coalesce and collaborate, providing an extremely rich research
environment for both faculty and graduate students.
. ?
New graduate programs can also be developed within each of the proposed IPs. To illustrate
SFU's capability to mount a vibrant, world-class graduate program in the environment and
sustainability, the following list details strengths currently existing at the University in
Water
and Environment,
one of the four proposed IPs. SFU currently offers three graduate degree
programs focused on aspects of water:
• Department of Geography - Hydrology, Climatology
• REM - Water Resources Management
• Department of Earth Sciences - Hydrogeology, Glaciology, Hydrogeochemistry
There is also potential for new graduate programs in the
Water and Environment IP
focusing
on watershed planning/analysis/modeling, water policy, and water and economics. For
example, a Water Policy program, perhaps offered as a joint program between the School of
Public Policy and the Water and Environment Program, could focus on the policy nexus
between the natural and physical sciences, social sciences, legal frameworks, institutions, and
management issues confronting both the public and private sectors. The institutional
arrangements that govern water allocation and water quality and the scientific basis for
management decisions are of fundamental importance to water policy. The program would
likely attract science graduates who have an interest in water policy.
Similar strengths in graduate research also exist in other proposed IPs: (1)
Biodiversity, Ecology
and Conservation -
Biological Sciences' Ecology and Evolution Stream; REM's Applied Wildlife
Ecology group and Forest Ecology; (2) Global Systems and Sustainability Strategies -
Geography's research streams in Environmental and Atmospheric Science and in Power,
Politics, and Policy; REM's The Climate, Oceans, and Paleo-Environments (COPE) Group;
0
?
Earth Science's Centre for Natural Hazard Research; and the Centre for Coastal Studies.
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
18
It is reasonable to expect that within two years of the startup of FES, with joint faculty positions,
faculty secondments and new faculty hiring both within the FES and more broadly across the
university, SFU will be well positioned to move forward with new graduate programming in the
thematic IP areas. In the interim, FES will come into being with a rich cohort of M.Sc. and Ph.D.
students affiliated with in its founding units.
Research and Teaching
The current SFU Strategic Research Plan (SRP 2005-2010) identifies the Environment as one
of its key research areas. Establishment of the FES supports most of the major objectives of the
SRP (Appendix 7), including:
• achieving thematic coherence in the expression of SFU's research interests;
• facilitating collaborations across disciplinary and institutional boundaries; and
• encouraging effective communication and dissemination of research results.
The advancement of excellence in research is now a defining feature of SFU. It is currently one
of the top five universities in Canada with respect to research intensity, which is defined by the
number of grants per 100 faculty members received from the three federal funding agencies.
SFU must recruit and retain outstanding scholars who will attract highly qualified graduate
students and champion bold initiatives, strengthen critical areas of research, develop new areas
of excellence in research, and enhance synergies between teaching and research.
The SFU SRP identifies strategic research themes to maximize the University's strengths.
These themes are interdisciplinary initiatives ranging from the humanities to the sciences that
engage interests across the University community. Environment is identified as one of five key
research themes. Not only will FES be the key proponent of the Environment research theme, it
will overlap or link with components of the other four research themes:
• Economic Organization, Public Policy and the Global Community;
• Communication, Computation, and Technology;
• Culture, Society, and Human Behaviour; and
• Health.
In the Environment theme area, research clusters at SFU focus on the relations among
economic development, conservation, and biodiversity in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems,
and natural hazard prediction and prevention. SFU research includes not only chemical,
molecular biological, toxicological, physiological, and behavioural studies, but also risk
assessment, management, and historic and economic considerations. The ultimate goal of
much of this research is to provide a sound basis for sustainable development and responsible
use of our natural resources. Researchers integrate economic, social, and environmental
objectives in community development with the goal of designing policies that minimize negative
impacts on ecosystems and urban communities. FES research would continue in areas
emphasized in the SRP, including but not limited to:
Fisheries and Aquatic Ecosystems:
Fisheries research at SFU is aimed at improving
understanding and management of fish populations through research on marine and freshwater
systems, including fish, marine mammals, birds, invertebrates, and their habitats.
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
19
Forestry and Terrestrial Ecosystems:
Forestry research at SFU seeks to improve
S ?
understanding of the forest ecosystem and to respond to challenges of natural and
anthropogenic environmental stresses on forests. SFU also has extensive expertise in social
science research on the forest economy of British Columbia and global trade in forest products.
Local Impacts of Human and Natural Disturbances:
Research ranges from environmental
geoscience to sustainable development strategies in studying the impact of human
developments and natural disturbances on local communities and ecosystems.
The new Faculty should have procedures in place to acknowledge, value, and promote the full
range of research approaches and publication venues within the founding units and within units
that join the FES at a later date. Faculty policies should acknowledge and promote
development-grant proposals (e.g. CIDA, IDRC, and RIIM) as well as grant proposals to the
traditional funding councils.
FES will greatly strengthen SFU's capabilities in the environment by fostering interdisciplinarity
and building on our strengths to define strategic research directions that will give the University
a competitive advantage. The new Dean will have to devise measures that will support and
promote collaboration across units within FES, and between FES and units outside it.
Experience from interdisciplinary departments should be utilized to foster such activity. For
example, REM has found that one way of enhancing multidisciplinary collaborations among
diverse faculty is through graduate student projects. M.Sc. and Ph.D. students within REM are
required to develop projects that integrate natural and social sciences. Many successful
interdisciplinary research collaborations have naturally developed through the involvement of
faculty members in these student projects. One approach for encouraging new, innovative, and
S ?
collaborative research at the graduate and faculty levels is to intentionally design M.Sc. and
Ph.D. degree programs within the IPs that require student theses to address their topics in an
interdisciplinary manner.
Another successful model for developing interdisciplinary research collaborations is seen in the
Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) program sponsored by the
U.S. National Science Foundation. This program provides funding to institutions for well
designed, problem-oriented, graduate research projects that integrate research from several
fields. It fosters excellence in graduate research and also provides a springboard for fruitful
collaborations at the faculty level. SFU's Community Trust Endowment Fund (CTEF) supports
similar types of research in the field of the environment, including one on secondary impacts of
climate change in British Columbia that has brought together faculty members from Earth
Sciences, Communications, Health Sciences, REM, SlAT, and Statistics. The Committee
recommends that this program be expanded. One means of encouraging interdisciplinary
research at the graduate and faculty level is to earmark a set of graduate fellowships that
demonstrate an integration of research across multiple units within the Faculty and the
university.
Faculty interactions to develop productive research relationships are through problem-based
teaching at the upper-level undergraduate and graduate levels. FES might offer a rotational,
Faculty-wide, problem-based course that is designed and co-taught by instructors from several
units within the Faculty. Although such courses are recognized as being labor-intensive for
faculty members, they could be encouraged by incentives such as teaching release.
S ?
An administrative consideration for the Dean will be alternatives to FTE and student majors as
basis for resource allocation. Such alternatives would enhance connections across existing
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
20
units and programs and promote avenues for greater student participation in FES overall
programming. ?
Is
SFU Niche
SFU has significant strengths and interest in the environment and sustainability. This fact is
evident in the University's broad course offerings, research, and its existing undergraduate,
graduate, and community outreach programs. Other Canadian post-secondary environmental
and sustainability initiatives are not as demonstrably interdisciplinary as SFU's could be. FES
will be strategically planned for maximum interdisciplinarity and will provide base environmental
and sustainability programs as well as unique solution-oriented programming. Assuming that
SFU's existing interdisciplinary programming is combined with the thematic IPs proposed here,
the University has a chance to take the lead in academic programming in Canada in the fields of
environment and sustainability.
SFU has demonstrated experience in mounting complex interdisciplinary programs that provide
certification needs in specific fields, for example accreditation for the Master's of Resource
Management by the Canadian Institute of Planners and the Planning Institute of BC; and
accreditation of graduates of Physical Geography and Earth Sciences by the Association of
Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of BC. SFU also has a history of unique community
outreach, which is evident in non-academic courses, public activities, and the creation of the
environmentally friendly UniverCity on the Burnaby Mountain campus.
Research
Demand
is required
?
on marketability, demand, and comparative programs across Canada and
Is
abroad. In the next phase of academic program development for FES, market research on
specific proposed IPs should be done as part of the regular program development and approval
process.
Market: Current climate and future research
Environmental issues have high political and public profiles and are receiving extensive media
attention. Governments are increasingly supporting initiatives in the environment and
sustainability (Appendix 8), and the Office of the Vice-President Research has included
'environment' in its current strategic mandates (Appendix 7).
Two key market factors will drive demand for students with a broad education in environment
and sustainability. First is an aging labour demographic; with high retirement turnover, jobs will
open. Second, the public and industrial sectors, for economic reasons, are increasingly placing
importance on the environment and ecological sustainability. This change is driving new
technologies and a growing need for expertise that can address new organizational priorities
and that can use developing technologies.2
http://blog.Iidc.sfu.calcareerservices/p= 1344
The "green" collar job boom: Environmental sector growing 60%
faster than economy.
?
0
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
21
Target student base: Credentials and careers
The goals of a successful undergraduate program within FES are threefold: (a) to groom
students for further education in graduate programs; (b) to prepare students for employment;
and (c) to make them more environmentally aware citizens. Interdisciplinary programs that are
designed to satisfy goals (a) and (b) are likely to differ in design. The former will provide
stronger scientific credentials for students intending to pursue graduate degrees or careers in
science. For example, students obtaining a degree in
Biodiversity, Ecosystems, and
Conservation will
be prepared to pursue graduate degrees in programs such as ecology,
conservation, environmental policy, and environmental management and regulation. They will
also be prepared to pursue careers in political science, public policy, law, business,
communications, resource management, climatology, applied biology, environmental earth
science, and education. Development of skills in critical thinking, analysis, writing, and
communication will provide students a competitive advantage in all job markets.
Career fields for graduates of FES include, but are not limited to, environmental management
and regulation, ecology, environmental policy, conservation, waste management, outdoor
recreation management, research and development, and academia. Potential employers for
students with either a B.Sc. or B.A. degree include government, non-governmental
organizations, consulting firms, state and federal agencies, firms specializing in conservation,
ecology, and environmental issues, resource industries, and scientific and research groups.
Employers of students with an environmental education generally request a minimum of an
undergraduate degree in an environmental, ecological, or conservation program
3
. Programs that
target students who are not seeking post-graduate credentials could offer either a B.Sc. or B.A.
•
?
degree. A B.A. degree program could follow a liberal arts degree model that would have a core
focus in sciences but with fewer required credits in natural sciences. This option would provide
more freedom to pursue courses more broadly across relevant
.
disciplines within the Faculty,
such as environmental governance, development, and the environment, and outside the faculty,
such as archaeology, First Nations studies, public policy, urban studies, and anthropology. It
would be aimed at students with an interest in topics such as environmental governance. A
B.Sc. degree would require a strong set of science courses, but also an appropriate number of
social science courses to provide students with a balanced societal perspective in which their
scientific knowledge will be applied.
Whenever possible, requisites for professional credentials other than academic degrees, and
practical experience, should be incorporated into programming. Job Futures, Service Canada4
reported that 53% of students who had prior work experience in environmental and conservation
technologies found a job within one month of graduation. They also found that 93% of these
students were employed two years after graduation and that average annual earnings are
$33,300 to $42,000.
Competition
Many post-secondary institutes are striving to be interdisciplinary in the field of environmental
education. However, to date most universities and colleges have a specific focus and minimal
courses or programs to support their claims to true interdisciplinarity. SFU has the capacity
through its existing expertise, courses, and programs to quickly take the lead in interdisciplinary
academic programming and research in the environment and sustainability. The thematic lPs
Seen in 89% of B.C. environmental related job postings reviewed July/Aug 2008.
"http://www.jobfutures.ca/fox/C640
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
22
proposed in this report will be unique to SFU, as would other possible academic programs in
areas such as Environment and Communication. ?
0
Community Involvement and Outreach
An overarching FES goal must be to contribute to educating an environmentally informed
citizenry. This goal can be achieved through the Faculty's curricula, but it also requires broader
FES involvement in the University and external communities (local, regional, federal, and
global). Consideration should be given to offering environmental literacy courses or an
Environmental Literacy Certificate to train SFU students to be more environmentally literate
citizens.
Issues surrounding the environment and sustainability are of critical importance to the public.
FES will have a tremendous opportunity early in its existence to respond to public interest in
these issues through faculty and student involvement in community activities. Examples of such
activities include faculty and student lectures, public events for community and school groups,
and student involvement in community environmental activities.
SFU is surrounded by nearly 600 hectares of conservation land, including forest. This area
offers a wonderful opportunity for expanded academic as well as community outreach, urban
ecology research, and other initiatives. Ecological systems in cities are of increasing interest
and importance to communities and governing bodies, and SFU is ideally situated to engage in
such activities.
Current sustainability activities on the Burnaby campus that could be fostered and energized by
FES include:
• Sustainability Advisory Committee
• Campus Sustainability Assessments Program
• SFU Sustainability website
• SFU Sustainability Policy
• University community initiatives such as
Waste Reduction through Composting Pilot
program
and
The 2008 Sustainability Festival
• UniverCity
• Student groups and clubs
Integration with Other Faculties
An opportunity exists for contributing to interdisciplinary programming of units outside the
Faculty. For example, an environmental minor might be offered to students in Business
Administration. The Strategic Learning Group in Business Administration already deals with
sustainability; an environmental minor for their students would provide a unique niche for SFU
Business Administration students. Such a minor could include existing courses such as
corporate and social responsibility in the context of environmental issues. Many major
environmental institutes and NGOs are using business models to appeal to corporations and the
public (an example is Stanford University's Natural Capital Project, which focuses on ecosystem
services and the valuation of those services).
SFU academic units that may wish to participate in FES programs, besides the founding units,
include Archaeology, Biology, Chemistry, Earth Sciences, First Nations Studies, Sociology and
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
23
Anthropology, and Urban Studies. Collaboration between faculty in REM and Archaeology has
.
?
developed an increasingly important body of ecosystem data and of insight into ancient and
long-term change in human ecosystems. First Nations Studies provides compelling alternatives
to accepted definitions of environment, research, and knowledge, as well as guidance in forging
collaborations with aboriginal communities.
FES programming will deliver existing courses from its founding units, but, as mentioned earlier,
courses should also be drawn from other faculties including FASS, the Faculty of Science, and
new Faculties including Health Sciences. Exciting linkages could also be developed with Health
Sciences, Business Administration, Engineering Science, and Education.
SFU Centres and Institutes with environmental strengths and missions
Many existing centres and institutes at SFU are relevant to FES. These centres facilitate
collaborative research, especially multi-disciplinary research. They also undertake specific types
of teaching or training programs, facilitate multi-university initiatives such as Centres of
Excellence, and provide specific types of services to the community:
• Centre for Wildlife Ecology
• Centre for Natural Hazards Research
• Centre for Coastal Studies
• CRC in Fisheries Risk Assessment and Management
• CRC in Glaciology
• Cooperative Resource Management Institute
• Institute of Governance Studies
• Institute for the Humanities
• Centre for Global Political Economy
Some of these Centres may wish to relocate within FES once the new Faculty is established.
Other SFU interests in FES
There is a great deal of interest across the University in the potential for collaboration with FES.
Expressions of interest since the new Faculty was proposed to Senate in April 2008 have been
received from:
• Semester in Dialogue
• School of Engineering Science
• Department of Sociology and Anthropology
• Faculty of Education
• Department of Economics
• Centre for Canadian Studies
• School of Communication
• Department of Biological Sciences
Further expressions of interests are welcome and continue to be submitted.
Inter-institutional interests
• Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability
• Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre
. ?
1 Pacific Institute on Climate Change Solutions (PICS)
• Neptune Canada Seafloor Observatories
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report ?
24
Administrative Structure to Support IPs
?
Ol
Faculty governance is the responsibility of the Dean. FES is a hybrid faculty, like no other in the
University, and the administrative structure will have to serve all units and facilitate
programming across them and beyond. Participation of individuals and units outside the initial
FES must be encouraged, for example by including external representation on planning
committees. Inclusion of individuals and units outside FES in meaningful ways will enhance and
promote the development of the Faculty and enrich and provide greater scope to programming.
Structural models
It is essential to have a unifying administrative structure for new programming that will facilitate
ongoing IP support. Such a structure could be a temporary arrangement, for example over the
first three to five years of the Faculty.
The rationale for such an administrative structure is to:
• provide a focal point for the advancement of new, innovative, and interdisciplinary
research;
• administer excellent new IPs effectively and efficiently;
• provide administrative support and representation for smaller units within the faculty;
• provide a home for faculty secondments and adjunct positions involved in new IP
undergraduate and graduate programs; and
• solicit donors and be responsible for community outreach efforts.
The Committee considered a variety of structural models that could meet these requirements.
Any model must support and promote the central, environmental and sustainability themes of
FES, its mission and vision, and also provide a cross-unit interdisciplinary base. lPs embody the
signature themes of the new FES and need both cross-unit and administrative support. The
structure must also support the smaller founding units of the FES, providing adequate resources
and recognition within a Faculty that comprises a variety of units (a school, a department, and
programs).
An 'institute' is the Committee's favoured administrative home for the IPs and possibly some of
the small, non-departmental units that will enter the Faculty. Such an institute would not
duplicate what existing units already do. Rather, the primary purpose of the institute would to
promote the signature themes of FES and have a cross-unit programming capability. Non-
departmental and non-school units could be included in the institute, where they would receive
support and greater visibility.
Attainment of the level of integration required of the new Faculty could be facilitated by the
creation of a new stand-alone research and teaching institute, the
Institute of Environment and
Sustainability.
The Institute would both bring together teaching and research resources from
within and outside the Faculty and act as an incubator for new programs. It could be based on
the structure of the IHRE in the Faculty of Health Sciences.
The institute could serve as a:
• home for new IPs;
• catalyst for inter-unit and cross-University collaboration;
• research base; ?
0
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
25
• home for cross-appointments, CRCs, and secondments;
S
.
vehicle for fundraising;
• mechanism for community outreach;
• structure for managing centres entering FES;
• home for IP undergraduate and graduate curriculum committees and tenure and
promotion committees;
• structure for supporting other units and faculty members that might enter FES after it is
created; and
• mechanism for promoting University literacy on environment and action on sustainability.
The University has a policy on Institutes that restricts what they can do. Research is the current
focus of SFU institutes and, to date, SFU Institutes and Centres that do offer some courses
toward credentials offer only certificates and diplomas. With the exception of the Centre for
Canadian Studies, they offer no degrees. A structure to enable the necessary functions
proposed in this report (teaching, tenure and promotion committees, appointments) within an
institute does not yet exist at SFU. Ultimately, the Centres and Institutes Policy should be
revised; this responsibility lies with the Vice-President Research. The Office of the Dean should
provide administrative support for new lPs and possibly for smaller founding units.
A second structural model that was considered involves a steering committee established to
oversee the IPs. As is normal procedure within the University, the steering committee could
report to the Office of the Dean.
Several further considerations involve promotion of the diverse academic cultures of units
S
?
bridging the social and natural sciences and those in the new Faculty whose primary focus is
other than environmental. FES should foster continued and strengthened connections within as
well as across units. Faculty hires within existing units should reflect all areas of scholarship
within the discipline, including fields that are not primarily concerned with the biophysical
environment. FES should also promote a range of scholarly approaches in science, social
science, and the humanities, and their associated publication outlets and funding vehicles. For
example, the new Faculty should appreciate and promote social and critical theory and basic
research in the sciences just as it needs to promote applied research in policy and governance.
Publication in traditional outlets in the humanities, especially books, should be integrated into
FES criteria just as there should be acknowledgement of the importance of refereed journals as
the primary publication mode in the sciences.
Urgency of Establishment of FES
The new Faculty must be approved and developed now, as delays work against the University's
interests. Approval will bring the new Faculty on track with the overall faculty restructuring
efforts, and, more importantly, align SFU with recognition by the public, industry, and
governments that the environment is among the most important issues the world faces over the
remainder of this century. Additionally, there is a high level of interest and energy across the
University to move this Faculty forward, which should be built upon now.
Approval of FES will also allow SFU to capitalize on public funding initiatives, interagency
ventures, and donor interest in the environment and sustainability. There is strong competition
S ?
for funds from these sources from other universities that are developing similar programs
(Appendix 9), and SFU might lose out on these time-sensitive opportunities if FES is delayed.
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
26
The Way Forward
Further discussion
To allow FES to develop to its full potential, the next phase of FES planning should involve
further discussions among the founding units and interested groups and individuals outside the
Faculty, within the larger University community. One suggestion is that the Acting Dean
organize a working group of specialists that would develop details of the proposed
interdisciplinary programs.
Further
development
of the Environmental Science Program
One of the reasons that FES was created was to provide a nurturing home for the
Environmental Science Program and to allow the program to flourish beyond the current
demand for two existing streams. The creation of the new Faculty of the Environment and
Sustainability will enable development of curriculum that is much more innovative, flexible and
addresses future needs in the field of Environmental Science. The Environmental Science
Program will enter FES in its present form, but it must evolve under the leadership of the new
Dean and with appropriate consultation with the other founding units.
The External Review of the Environmental Science Programs recommended that the program
become a department. FES will allow for the development of such an interdisciplinary
undergraduate program, where the student learns not only the science behind a particular
environmental issue, but also can study the societal and political concerns that can make the
issue controversial and complicate solutions.
The Environmental Science Program at SFU was established in 1996. The initial steering
committee responsible for the development of the program included representatives from the
Departments of Mathematics and Statistics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Geography. Once
it became established as a Department, Earth Science became a member of the committee.
Currently, the program six streams
• Biology
• Chemistry
• Environmetrics
• Physical Geography
• Pollutant Transport
• Quantitative Techniques for Resource Management
Establishment of FES provides an opportunity to restructure the Environmental Science
Program to make it more innovative and forward-looking. The Program can:
• build on the strengths of the other founding units, and
• be inclusive of other Faculties and Centres, for example Health Science, Arts and Social
Sciences, and the Centre for Coastal Studies.
Redevelopment of the Environmental Science Program should be a priority of the Office of the
Dean once FES is established. Program changes were recommended during an external review
of the existing Program in 2006. Key recommendations included redesigning the existing
Program and changing it to a Department of Environmental Science within a new Faculty of the
Environment. ?
0
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
27
. ?
Secondment and joint appointment of faculty outside founding units
Faculty mobility and cross-appointments should be encouraged and enabled. The institute could
provide a place where faculty members from outside FES could be housed, but they could also
be housed within one of the founding units. All secondments, new faculty, and adjunct positions
will not be solely associated with the Institute. For example, some founding units have
appointments from the Vice-President Academic that must be respected.
Funding examples
SSHRC:
The Canadian Government's 2008 Budget provided targeted funding for research on
the environment and the North. SSHRC has announced two special calls for applications on
priority topics:
• climate change impact, mitigation and adaptation;
• energy and natural resources;
• water; and
• the environmental impact of new technologies.
Canada Excellence Research Chairs Program:
To expand its Science and Technology strategy
and strengthen Canada's ability to attract world-class researchers and doctoral students, CERC
will establish 20 new Canada Global Excellence Research Chairs in priority research areas, two
of the four of which are FES related: 1) Environmental Sciences and Technologies; and 2)
Natural Resources and Energy.
External collaborations
The recently created Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions (PICS) could link with FES and
satisfy the PICS educational mandate. PICS was recently approved by BC Premier Gordon
Campbell; it is hosted by the University of Victoria and operates in collaboration with the
University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, and the University of Northern British
Columbia. PICS has an endowment of $90M and was provided $4.5M in operational funding for
its first year, 2008. In addition to funding graduate fellowships, PlC program responsibilities
include "facilitating and promoting knowledge transfer activities."
First Nations
The Committee recognizes that there is a strong connection between the interests of First
Nations, Inuit, and Metis communities and the core issues of the Faculty of Environment and
Sustainability. SFU already has institutional relationships with some First Nations. Examples
include the Chief Dan George Centre, which has institutionalized a relationship with the TsleiI-
waututh, and existing relationships between First Nations and the Departments of Anthropology
and Archaeology.
The Committee recommends that there be a significant focus on First Nations within FES. It
recognizes, however, that establishing stable and productive relationships with First Nations is
an important part of the consultation process. Establishment of this relationship requires more
time and a more involved protocol than could be initiated by our Committee over the summer
months. Initiating this process is a crucial part of creating a new Faculty that is inclusive and
inherently true to the philosophy of sustainability. As such, we recommend that SFU set up a
working group as soon as possible to begin to identify and engage First Nations stakeholders in
this consultation from a position of reciprocal respect. This group would be responsible for
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
28
establishing and following a protocol of consultation, which could involve sending a public letter
announcing the formation of a new Faculty and planning in-person visits that would begin to
build partnerships and facilitate First Nation involvement. We also recommend that an advisory
group representing First Nations be established to provide ongoing input to the development of
programs within FES.
External Advisory Committee
The Committee recommends that an External Advisory Committee be established to advise the
future Dean on further development of FES. This committee would provide valuable informed
'outsider' advice on development of the Faculty, and could serve as a bridge to professional,
political, and other bodies. It might also provide opportunities for external funding for FES. The
External Advisory Committee should include, but not be limited to representatives of the SFU
student body, First Nations, environmental NGOs, and the private sector.
Recommendations
• Broad Interdisciplinary Programs should be established within the Faculty of
Environment and Sustainability to permit the new Dean to move forward into detailed
programming and related approval processes.
• Interdisciplinary Programs must be flexible but provide all FES students with at least an
overview of the environmental, economic, social, and institutional dimensions of
sustainability, while also allowing them to specialize more deeply in one of those areas.
• The Committee recommends establishment of four thematic Interdisciplinary Programs,
which capture the spirit and potential of the new Faculty. Each of the IPs will have a
leader that reports to the Office of the Dean through an Institute or Advisory Committee.
• Global Systems and Sustainability Strategies
• Biodiversity, Ecosystems, and Conservation
• Environment and Development
• Water and Environment
The Interdisciplinary Programs require a home independent of the founding units. One
option is an Institute with a Director. Another, less creative option, but one that does not
require a change in SFU's Centres and Institute policy, is an Advisory or Steering
Committee. Given the need for an Institute with the capabilities outlined in this report, the
Committee recommends that Vice-President Research give priority to revising the
existing Centres and Institutes Policy to allow the Institute of Environment and
Sustainability to be established.
• Core and capstone courses, required of all students in new FES programs, should be
developed once the new Faculty is established.
• Co-operative education, international opportunities, and other forms of experiential
learning should be established within FES to provide its students with community-based
learning at both undergraduate and graduate levels.
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
29
• The new Dean should seek alternatives to FTE and student majors as basis for resource
S ?
allocation within FES. Such alternatives would enhance connections across existing
units and programs and promote avenues for greater student participation in FES overall
programming.
• An External Advisory Committee should be established by the Vice-President Academic
to advise on the further development of FES.
• FES must has an outward-looking attitude and involve itself in communities of all sizes,
from the University to global. Sustainability requires such vision.
.
FES InterdiscipLinary Programming Committee Report
?
30
Appendix 1
A VISION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAMMING AT SIMON FRASER ?
UNIVERSITY
A Report Submitted to the Phase 2 Task Force on Academic Structure
J.M. Munro
?
.
November 5, 2007
.
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
31
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
S
It is not surprising that environmental programming emerged as a topic in the current examination
of academic structure at Simon Fraser University. The burgeoning public and media interest in
environment and sustainability hardly requires comment and the emergence of uncertainty
concerning both the scientific basis for many of today's environmental issues and the design and
implementation of policies to address these issues is a call for universities to consider how to best
use their substantial environmental capabilities.
The Report of Working Group 3 of the Phase 2 Task Force on Academic Structure recommended
that a facilitator be appointed to conduct a visioning process to clarify the thematic foci and major
programmatic and research areas of a potential environmental initiative for Simon Fraser
University. This is the final report of the facilitator. It has benefited enormously from the input
received in all these interactions. The report is a summary of opinions and arguments, not a
statement of consensus.
A. CURRENT ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY ACTIVITIES AT SFU
SFU has been addressing environmental problems from its earliest years. Across many departments
S ?
(Schools, Departments, and Programs), SFU's environmental programming and research activities
have greatly expanded over the decades.
Departments and Faculty Members There is a widespread interest in environmental topics. There
are 23 departments with at least one environmental course and over 70 faculty members with
environmental interests. This suggests that there could be opportunities for faculty and program
collaboration that are not being realized.
Students Many measures of student interest in environmental programs show relative decline or, at
best, stability. Given the general interest in environment and sustainability and increased
environmental employment, this is not what we would expect and it may indicate defects in the
design and delivery of environment-related programs.
Research Environmental research obtains funding above the University-wide average. The
inclusion of "Environment" as one of five themes in the current Strategic Research Plan appears to
be well-founded.
Outreach SFU does more environmental outreach than is generally recognized but, based on the
level of public interest and the success of SFU's current outreach activities, much more could be
done to reach government, schools, industry, and the general public.
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
32
Sustainability Profile
Despite being a signatory to the Talloires Declaration on university sustainability, SFU has yet to
create a public profile as a sustainable campus. This is in marked contrast to some other Canadian
universities, notably UBC. However, SFU now has a meaningful sustainability policy at the final
draft stage.
B.
ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY AT OTHER CANADIAN UNIVERSITIES
Many Canadian universities have institutionally more prominent environmental units than SFU,
more environmental degree programs and seem to have established better integration with related
departments in their university. The other three research universities in BC are, in various ways,
ahead of SFU in environment and sustainabiLity programming despite proportionately similar
capabilities.
C.
A NEW ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAMMING VISION FOR SFU
In the various consultation opportunities leading up to the completion of this report there was a
strong consensus for SFU undertaking a significant environmental programming initiative. Major
academic restructuring in the University at the same time as greatly expanded interest in
environmental issues among governments, funding agencies, potential donors, and society as a
whole offers a unique opportunity, in the view of most consultation participants. The following
important elements emerged:
concentrate on the relationships between natural environment and the other aspects of the
human environment so that outcomes such as "sustainability" are defined in terms of the
natural environment
> ?
bring together the humanities, natural, applied, and social sciences in an integrated multi-
and inter-disciplinary strategy
majority support for a Faculty of the Environment and Sustainability (FES) rather than an
environmental and sustainability institute
) ?
key opportunities were identified for improvement and expansion of undergraduate
education
> ?
many opportunities for large scale research projects and programs involving researchers at
many institutions and a central environmental unit at SFU would help SFU's opportunities for
participation
> ?
outreach and policy Impact are important and SFU should strive to reach and serve the public
and private sectors
great interest in organizational options and issues
0
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
33
> ?
five types of participation of faculty members in the environmental initiative: (1) all faculty
•
?
members in an existing unit; (2) individual faculty members transferred on a permanent
basis; (3) individual faculty members with joint appointments; (4) individual faculty members
on part- or full-time secondment for a fixed period of 1,3, or 5 years; and (5) affiliated
(Associate Member) involvement.
D. REVIEW OF ORGANIZATIONAL OPTIONS FOR SFU
Four organizational options for a possible environmental initiative were identified by the Working
Group.
1.
Maintaining the status quo is the easiest option, but disadvantages outweigh advantages.
2.
The environmental institute option would be a Low-key and non-threatening way of encouraging
interdisciplinary work on the environment and sustainabiLity but its disadvantages are greater than
its advantages.
3. A new School of Environment and Sustainability created either out of the current School of
Resource and Environmental Management or in addition to it would create more presence for
environmental and sustainability teaching and research but present many organization structure
problems.
4.
A new Faculty of Environment and Sustainability would be the strongest response to the current
opportunity. This option seemed to have majority support among consultation participants. It
would elevate the priority of environment and sustainability, gather University-wide participation,
facilitate program development, and be seen to address SFU's societal responsibilities. The
disadvantages of a new Faculty would be financial and administrative costs and possible difficulties
in reaching general agreement on priorities and programs.
E. CONCLUSION
Although SFU has considerable strengths in the field of environment and sustainability, many
universities across Canada seem to be doing more. It seems unlikely that SFU will secure many of
the benefits presented by increasing research and programming opportunities if it keeps its
organizational and programmatic status quo. The weight of opinion gathered in the consultation
process Leading to this report strongly supports SFU undertaking an environmental programming
initiative now and most opinion supported the creation of a Faculty of Environment and
Sustainabitity.
0
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
34
INTRODUCTION
It is not surprising that environmental programming emerged as a topic in the current examination
of academic structure at Simon Fraser University. The burgeoning public and media interest in
environment and sustainabitity hardly requires comment and the emergence of uncertainty
concerning both the scientific basis for many of today's environmental issues and the design and
implementation of policies to address these issues is a call for universities to consider how to best
use their substantial environmental capabilities.
The Report of Working Group 3 of the Phase 2 Task Force on Academic Structure
5
identified three
organizational options for a possible environmental initiative:
• status quo;
• an institute;
• a new School or Faculty. This is really two options - departments
6
operate at a different
Level in SFU's organization than Faculties and have different responsibilities.
The Report also included three guiding objectives with respect to the desired outcome of any new
organizational arrangements:
• Enhancing the education and experience of students;
• Creating an environment that is more supportive of faculty in their teaching and research;
• Holding promise for addressing issues of societal interest so as to lead to the betterment of
the world's peoples, both locally and globally.
In summary this means that any new organizational arrangement should be attractive to students,
encourage faculty collaboration in teaching and research, and contribute to meeting the
University's societal responsibilities.
Working Group 3's Report went on to identify six qualities that any initiative would need to possess
in order to succeed.
1)
Offer outstanding quality to attract faculty and students.
2)
Integrate theoretical, critical, and applied perspectives.
3)
Be adaptable and support development of emerging areas of scholarship, research,
and teaching.
4) Not be a copy of other Canadian institutions.
5)
Embrace a broad definition of "environment" and encourage interdisciplinanty.
6)
Build upon the existing diverse strengths of Simon Fraser University faculty.
The report is available at htt p
://www.sfu.ca/v p
academic/files/WG
-
3 finaLreport.pdf.
6
Throughout this report, "department" includes Departments, Schools, and Programs.
?
0
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
35
Avoiding arrangements that would interfere with the development of these qualities should be a
paramount objective but most of them could only be achieved after a new organizational unit had
been created.
The Report recommended that a facilitator be appointed to conduct a visioning process to clarify
the thematic foci and major programmatic and research areas of a potential environmental
initiative for Simon Fraser University. This thematic visioning process was to include a self-study of
the activities and interests of existing faculty at the University based on consultation with the
broadest possible array of faculty engaged in research and education in the environment,
development and sustainability at the University.
After a short period of initial consultation, a draft facilitator's report 7 was distributed in late
September. This was followed by a series of meetings
8
with interested faculty and others, a one-
day Environment Visioning Workshop
9 with invited participation from 16 faculty members on
October 26, and an open forum attended by about 60 persons on November 1. This final report has
benefited enormously from the input received in all these interactions. It is important to note
that this report aims to reflect actual statements made by participants in all parts of the
•
?
consultative process. The report is a summary of opinions and arguments, not a statement of
consensus.
The main sections of this report are developed as follows.
A.
Comprehensive Review of Current SFU's Environment And Sustainability Activities
B.
Scan of Environmental Programs at Other Canadian Universities
C.
A New Environmental Programming Vision for SFU
D. Review of Organizational Options for SFU
A. CURRENT ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY ACTIVITIES AT SFU
SFU
has been addressing environmental problems from its earliest years. Very early thinking about
the departmental composition of SFU included an environmental science department 1 ° but this was
not included in the initial 1965 departments. The 1967 pest management program in the
http://www.sfu.ca/vpacademic/files/enviro.report.doc
8
Before and after completion of the draft report a total of 20 meetings were held with about 60 persons
interested in environmental programming.
•
?
The Environment Visioning Workshop Report is available at
htt p :
/www.sfu.ca/v
p academic/files/Report_on_Environment
Visionin g _Worksho p
. doc
10
Hugh Johnston,
Radical Campus: Making Simon Fraser University,
Vancouver, Douglas a McIntyre, 2005, 84.
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
36
Department of Biological Sciences with its emphasis on biological control of agricultural and forest
pests was the first tangible example of this early interest". In 1979 what is now the School of
Resource and Environmental Management offered its first courses and in the same year SFU
developed and approved an undergraduate resource management program to be Located in
Kelowna but government approval was not forthcoming. Across many departments, SFU's
environmental programming and research activities have greatly expanded over the decades.
This section contains a summary of faculty, departmental, and University interests and activities
related to the environment and sustainability. It is likely that the information in this section has
not captured all aspects of these interests.
1.
Interests of faculty members. A recent tabulation using faculty websites identified 68 faculty
members in 18 faculties and departments with "environment" as an interest. The Largest number
of environmentally-oriented faculty were in Geography, with Biological Sciences second. A search
of the "SFU Researchers Database" for keywords "environment", "environmental", and
"sustainable" produced 48 names but this source is dated (several names are no longer at SFU) and
incomplete. It seems likely that there are at least 70 faculty members whose scholarly interests
fall at least in part within the general ambit of "environment".
2.
Interests of De
p
artments. The following listing identifies departments with various levels of
environmental interest as shown by either their participation by written submission in the Working
Group 3 (WG3) process or their programming.
A. Partici p ation in WG3 (The 2006 number of appointed CFL faculty members
12
is shown in
brackets.)
Earth Sciences (15)
Environmental Science
Geography (26)
Graduate Certificate in Development
Resource and Environmental Management (14)
Sustainable Community Development (1)
Urban Studies (3)
B.
Environmental Pro
g rammin g
at the De
g
ree Level, Including Minors (and not included above)
Biological Sciences
Chemistry
Johnston, 2005, 204-205.
http://www.sfu.ca/irp/facuttv_staff/documents/f02.xis
.
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
37
Education
Statisiics and Actuarial Science
C. Environmental Pro
g rammin g
at the Course Level (and not included above
13
Archaeology
History
Business Administration
Humanities
Communication
Marine Science
Economics
Physics
First Nations Studies
Sociology and Anthropology
Health Sciences
Women's Studies
3. De
g
rees and Enrollments
Employment in environmental occupations is over 3 percent of total Canadian employment
14 white
environmental degrees apparently account for only about 1.5 percent of total undergraduate
degrees. A sizeable proportion of environmental workers have university degrees and most are
interested in continuing professional education. These statistics and the general interest in
environment and sustainability would seem to point to a substantial demand, at least
hypothetically, for university environmental programming.'
Actual student interest in environmental programming can be measured in a variety of ways. One
way would be to conduct a survey of student interest in a particular actual or potential program
opportunity. This has not been done for environmental programming at SFU. Student interest can
also be assessed by examining degrees granted, majoring students, and course enrollments. The
following tables present this type of information for SFU over the last five years. Note that this
will obviously understate student interest in environmental courses because the student interest
represented in Group 2.C. departments is not included. The exclusion of Ph.D.-level information
here and elsewhere in this report is not meant to imply that these programs are unimportant but
they almost always grow out of other initiatives.
13
Other departments including the Canadian Studies Program, the Centre for Dialogue, the Department of
English, and the Public Policy Program offer environmentally-related courses but do so under generic course
titles and descriptions.
14
ECO (Environmental Career Organization) Canada's most recent environment employer survey reports that
in 2006 there were 530,000 environmental workers in Canada (93,000 in B.C.) employed in over 100,000
establishments. Employment was estimated to have increased by 2.3 percent annually over the preceding 5
. ?
years, faster than the rate of growth in total employment.
://www.eco.ca/pdf/LMI
-
Industry
Final 2007 EN.pdf
http://www.eco.ca/pdf/LMI
-
Practitioner Final
_2006_EN. pdf
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
38
Table 1 ?
Degrees Granted in Environmental Programs,
2002/03-2006/07
Under g raduate Honours and Majors
2002/03
2003/04
2004/05
2005/06
2006/07
Average
B.Sc. Environmental Science
20
23
13
13
15
17
B.A. Geography - Environmental
12
11
18
24
14
16
B.Sc. Earth Sciences
8
8
7
8
11
8
B.Sc. Geography
12
13
17
8
5
11
Total Above
52
55
55
53
45
52
Total Undergraduate
2913
3127
3204
3488
3623
3271
Percentage Above of Undergraduate
1.79%
1.76%
1.72%
1.52%
1.54%
1.59%
Under g raduate Minors
Environmental Chemistry
1
2
5
3
4
3
Environmental Education
14
8
44
31
14
22
Environmental Toxicology
6
8
2
4
1
4
Total Above
21
18
50
38
19
29
Master's
MRM
28
34
14
14
21
22
MRM (Planning)
2
6
5
4
M.Sc., Earth Sciences
7
12
5
7
9
8
M.Sc., Geography
2
5
3
9
4
5
M.URB.
9
9
MET
5
7
5
4
1
4
MPM
8
4
4
2
4
Total Above
50
62
33
40
51
56
Total Master's
594
681
650
587
768
656
Percentage Above of Master's
8.42%
9.10%
5.08%
6.81%
6.64%
* Based on number of years specific programs were available so totals are slightly distorted.
Sources: SFU Analytical Studies Tables D37-b, D-33, and D-36.
.
.
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
39
In addition to the degrees shown above, a few departments have issued certificates and diplomas
in environmentally-related programs. These total an annual average of about 30 over this five-year
period, 70 percent of them in Sustainable Community Development.
Another measure of undergraduate student interest is declared majors. This information is shown
in Table 2.
Table 2
?
Declared Majors, Fall Semesters, 2002-2006
Fait 02
Fall 03
Fall 04
Fall 05
Fall 06
Average
Environmental Science
47
47
39
42
68
49
Geography - Environment
56
67
71
50
47
58
Earth Sciences
25
37
38
41
52
39
B.Sc. Geography
51
45
32
25
27
36
Total Above
179
196
180
158
194
181
Total All Majors
10238
11013
11580
12086
13184
11620
Percentage Above ofTotal
1.75%
1.78%
1.55%
1.31%
1.47%
1.56%
Source: SFU Analytical Studies, Table D4-b.
Finally, there are three groups of undergraduate courses with a special environmental orientation.
Some of these courses Likely have a service course role. Aggregate enrollments (not EETs) for these
courses (the List excludes directed readings and project courses) are shown in Table 3.
4. External Reviews
Recent external reviews of the four departmental units listed in 2.A. are available. They provide
some assessment of the environmental capabilities and activities of these four units.
The De
p
artment of Earth Sciences review (2004) noted the original Earth Sciences mandate to focus
on Environmental Geoscience and the need to also deliver a program that allowed graduates to
become registered geoscientists. Concern was expressed over undergraduate enrollment levels.
The reviewers recommended that the principal research mandate of Earth Sciences should remain
Environmental Geoscience. Overall, the review was positive concerning the progress and potential
of Earth Sciences.
S
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
Ell
Table
3
Course Enrollments,
20022007*
2002/03
2003/04
2004/05
2005/06
2006/07
Environmental Science (EVSC
200, 401,
93
81
105
104
86
491)
Resource and Environmental
315
301
327
342
362
Management (REM 100, 311, 356, 412,
445, 471)
Sustainable Community Development
247
215
218
209
210
(SCD 201, 301, 401, 403, 410)
________
Total
1779
1629
1740
1757
1802
• These are three-semester years beginning in the fall semester and ending in the following summer semester.
Source: Analytical Studies Course Section Enrollment Database.
The external review of the Environmental Science Pro
g
ram (2006) said that the Program had
previously experienced less administrative support than it needed and that it lacked visibility. The
reviewers noted many deficiencies in the current curriculum (leading to a declining number of
students and their concentration in only two of the six streams) and recommended a complete
restructuring ("... the status quo is not an option"). They also recommended that Environmental
Science become a Department and said that SFU should strengthen its environmental profile by
creating a Faculty of the Environment.
According to the Department of Geo
g ra ph y
(2006) external review, the Department needed to
increase the number of faculty members in physical geography 16
. Most of the review concentrated
on matters that are not germane to this report but there was concern about course scheduling
problems for Geography- Environmental students and about lack of participation by Geography
faculty members in cross-disciplinary research initiatives.
The external review of the School of Resource and Environmental Management (2003) was very
positive about the faculty and teaching programs. However, the reviewers did observe that the
School is not very visible on campus and that it should publicize its successes more actively. The
reviewers said that there should be no change in the number of undergraduate courses.
5. Research
SFU's environmentally-related research has considerable breadth and depth. There are several
ways of illustrating this. "Environment" is one of the five research themes in SFU's current
Strategic Research Plan,
2005201017.
This theme is described as follows:
SFU has an excellent record of high-profile research related to the environment.
This research is conducted throughout the University, and the research approaches
16
A number of new physical geography faculty have been appointed since the review.
http://www.sfu.ca/vpresearch/srp -finat. pdf
0
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
used and topics studied span a range of sectors from theoretical and mechanistic
. studies to applied management strategies. Mirroring the major natural resources of
British Columbia, research clusters at SFU focus on the relationships between
economic development, conservation and biodiversity in terrestrial and aquatic
ecosystems, as well as on natural hazard prediction and prevention. Our research
includes not only chemical, molecular biological, toxicological, physiological, and
behavioural studies, but also risk assessment, management, and historic and
economic considerations. The ultimate goal of this multifaceted approach is to
provide a sound basis for sustainable development and the responsible use of our
natural resources.
Three research areas in this theme are given special mention - Fisheries and Aquatic Ecosystems,
Forestry and Terrestrial Ecosystems, and Local Impacts of Human and Natural Disturbances.
Eleven of SFU's 64 research centres and institutes have at least a partial environmental
orientatio& 8 . These centres and institutes are listed below.
Behavioural Ecology Research Group
Centre for Coastal Studies
Centre for Natural Hazards Research
S
Centre for Sustainable Community Development
Centre for Tourism Policy and Research
Centre for Wildlife Ecology
Chemical Ecology Research Group
Cooperative Resource Management Institute
Imaginative Education Research Group
Institute for the Humanities
Western Canadian Universities Marine Sciences Society
While not all research at SFU occurs within research centres and institutes, this list does
demonstrate considerable interest in a wide range of environmentally-related research topics.
Another indicator of research interest and capability is that five of the University's 32 Canada
Research Chairs (as of June 30, 2006) are in environmental areas". Also, SFU's first B.C. Leading
S ?
http://www.sfu.ca/vpresearch/centres.htmt
http://www.sfu.ca/vpresearch/RM
DackaRe/CRCs%20June2006. pdf
41
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
42
Edge Endowment Fund Chair is in an environmental area and another fully endowed Chair in
Coastal Studies has just been approved. ?
0
The record of research funding
2 °
is another source of information but the record of research grants
and contracts at the level of the individual faculty member is not easy to aggregate and the record
by department may not capture all funding for environmental research. The four departments that
participated in the WG3 process had the following levels of research grant and contract funding in
N'1.lLiI.1
Earth Sciences-
$1.2
million
Geography - $1.3 million
Resource and Environmental Management - $
2.2
million
Urban Studies-
$0.2
million
This totals
$4.9
million
(8
percent) out of an SFU
2005/06
total of
$62.0
million. This is a larger
amount per faculty member
21
in these units
($85,000)
than the SFU average per faculty member
($72,000).
However, SFU does not have a research unit that includes a broad range of environmental and
sustainabiLity topics. Recently, there has been a surge in government funding interest in strategic
inter-university environmental research projects. Examples include the Pacific Green Energy
Initiative, a potentially large research consortium based on the BC government's energy objectives
and another BC government research initiative on climate change solutions. Although a research
Center for Environmental Sustainability has reached the framework stage, there is no unit at SFU
with the collaborative and integrative strength of, for example, the University of Calgary's
Institute for Sustainable Energy, Environment, and Economy 22
. Without such a unit, organizing and
delivering SFU participation in complex environmental research networks may be difficult.
6.
Outreach
The first words in SFU's most recent annual President's Report are "At Simon Fraser University, we
think good ideas should get out and travel"
23
. Outreach involves tailored combinations of research
and teaching expertise that take the University outside its traditional campus setting. SFU has a
number of successful outreach initiatives that involve taking SFU research and policy expertise in
the environment and sustainabitity into a variety of local, national, and global settings. Four
20
Information on research grants and contracts for 2005/06 is available at
http:
/www.sfu.
ca/ors/stats/srcdist2005O6.
pd
.
21
The year of funding ends five months earlier than the faculty count.
Information is available at http://www.iseee.ca/iseee/
http://www.sfu.ca/report2006/index.htmt
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
43
examples of many are outlined below.
a.
The recent Ada
p
tation to Climate Chan
g
e Team (ACT) led by the Public Policy Program will study
eight key climate change-related areas and consider ways to protect Canadian environmental,
economic and social wellbeing throughout its four-year program. Working in conjunction with
leading experts, and tapping into the expertise of SFU's own researchers, ACT will study the
problems posed as well as potential solutions, and produce policy recommendations for
adaptation.
24
SFU is partnering with the insurance company Zurich Canada in this program.
b.
Since 1992 SFU has provided the Canadian secretariat office for the China Council for
International Develo
p ment and Coo
p
eration (CCICED). The purpose of the Council is to further
strengthen cooperation and exchange between China and the international community in the field
of environment and development. CCICED has high level representation from China, Canada, and a
number of other countries. It is a high-level advisory body of the Chinese Government and is
mandated to exchange and disseminate international experience and expertise in the field of
environment and development, to carry out in-depth research on key issues related to China's
environment and development, to provide policy recommendations to the Chinese Government,
and to conduct policy demonstrations as necessary, with a view to integrating environment and
development and ensuring the sustainability of economic development in China
.25 Most of the
funding for CCICED comes from CIDA, the Canadian International Development Agency and for
Phase IV, 2007-2011, totals almost $7 million. In Phase IV it is expected that direct SFU
involvement in the work of CCICED will increase.
c.
One of SFU's environmentally-oriented research centres, the Centre for Coastal Studies
26
, has a
mandate to promote interdisciplinary research, education and dialogue on Canada's coastal
ecosystems, particularly those in British Columbia. Its outreach programs are done in collaboration
with the Science Programs unit of Continuing Studies. By linking social and natural science with
local knowledge, the Centre focuses on three key themes:
1.
Marine conservation
2. Sustainable coastal communities and economies
3.
Building resource management capacity (government, community, academic)
See http://www.sfu.ca/act/
for information.
10
?
25
CCICED's website is htt
p : / /enR.cciced.or g
/cn /company/create/page2l
02. htm?siteid= 1 atmid=z1 02.
http://www.sfu.ca/coastaistudies/index.htm
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
44
It also coordinates the Linking Science with Local Knowledge node of the DFO/SSHRC national
Ocean Management Research Network. If website hits (8,000 per week in
200610717)
are any
indication, the Centre's outreach and research activities are highly valued by its external
communities.
d. SFU's Faculty of Education is home to Canada's oldest, most established (for 37 years) Summer
Institute in Environmental Education. The Institute provides teachers and other educators with an
opportunity to consider and explore the educational opportunities and implications of human-
environment interactions. It is inter-disciplinary in nature and considers the environment through
the perspectives of the natural and social sciences, humanities, economics, and the arts. It also
addresses curriculums and educational programming from K-Adult levels. Institute formats provide
for a wide range of field experiences, seminars, lectures, volunteer opportunities, and hands on
activities. 28 SFU Education faculty members have Led a recent project for a new environmental
education guide for teachers 29 and teach in a variety of environmentally-oriented programs for
educators.
While the importance of SFU carrying out environmentaLLy-focused outreach and networking
programs was mentioned quite frequently in the consultations leading up to this report, it
appeared that these examples were not as well known as they should be. Even with the fairly large
number of activities that are underway now, SFU could do more to meet society's interests and
needs for environmental and sustainability outreach.
7. Sustainability
Profile
Many North American universities have established sustainabitity policies and offices in the last few
years. The Association of University Leaders for a Sustainable Future (ULSF), a product of the
Taltoires Declaration 30, has been in existence for over 15 years and recently over 400 U.S.
university and college presidents have signed the Presidents Climate Commitment 31 to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions and support other measures to slow climate change.
Despite being a signatory to the Talloires Declaration on university sustainabitity, SFU has yet to
create a public profile as a sustainable campus. This is in marked contrast with some other
Canadian universities, notably UBC, which has a detailed Sustainability Strategy 32
and a high-profile
27
Statistics supplied by the Centre for Coastal Studies for its own website and the associated website of
Continuing Studies in Science.
http://www.ecluc.sfu.ca/ee/
29 i.... , I....... k-A ?
I..-
?
kf..
/www.
utsf.ore/programs
' http: / /www.
p restdentsclimatecommitment.or g /htrnt/commitment
. php
http:
/www.sustain.ubc.ca/pdfs/ia/51059 iatar g
__
aPri13_rv2. pdf
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
45
Sustainability Office
33 .
However, SFU now has a meaningful sustainability policy at the final draft
stage
34 and the UniverCity project 35 has received numerous awards for design sustainability.
8. Summar
y
of SFU Ca
p
abilities and Activities
What do the preceding sections tell us about SFU's environmental capabilities and activities?
Dep
artments and Faculty
Members. There is a widespread interest in environmental topics. The
large number of departments with some environmental courses suggests that there could be
opportunities for faculty and program collaboration that are not being realized. Research has
shown that mission, network, and structures are important elements in encouraging faculty
collaboration.
36
Students. Many measures of student interest in environmental programs show relative decline or,
at best, stability. Given the interest in the environment and the increased employment in the
environment industry and government, this seems to run counter to the expected impact of
employment opportunities on student interest in specialized programs. This discrepancy between
enrollment and employment may indicate defects in the design and delivery of environment-
related programs. The impetus and inspiration for program re-design should come from inside the
University but the information provided by the Canadian Environmental Careers Accreditation
Bureau 37
would be of some value in considering how to re-design environmental programs.
Research. Admittedly crude data show that environmental research obtains funding above the
University-wide average. The inclusion of "Environment" as one of five themes in the current
Strategic Research Plan appears to be well-founded.
Outreach. SFU does more environmental outreach than is generally recognized but, based on the
level of public interest and the success of SFU's current outreach activities, much more could be
done to reach government, schools, industry, and the general public.
A recent assessment of UBC's sustainability profile says this: "A leader in the greening of Canadian
campuses, UBC adopted a sustainable development policy in 1997 and a year later opened a campus
SustainabiLity Office -- both firsts for the nation's colleges. Offering more than 300 sustainability-related
courses, this Vancouver campus was Canada's first and only university to receive Campus Ecology Recognition
from the U.S.-based National Wildlife Federation, in 2003 and again in 2005. And just last year, UBC
developed a comprehensive sustainability strategy to keep the eco-momentum moving."
htt p
www.
g nst.or g /news/maindish/2007/08/
10 / colleges/?source=most
- popula .
available at http://www.worldwatch.org/node/4539.
: / /www.sfu.ca/policieslfileslDraft_Policy_Pages/GP38
- SFU SustainabiUty_Policy
http://www.univercity.ca/
Adrianna Kezar (2006), "Redesigning For Collaboration in Learning Initiatives: An Examination of Four Highly
•
Collaborative Campuses",
The Journal of Higher Education,
http: / /www.cecab.or g
/documents/NOS Profiles_UL. pdf
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
46
B. ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY AT OTHER CANADIAN UNIVERSITIES
This section surveys environmental and sustainabiUty programs at other Canadian universities.
Every Canadian university offers some kind of environmental programming and a variety of
environmentally-oriented courses. This section only includes universities with at [east comparable
activity to SFU. It will pay particular attention to other British Columbia universities.
Universit y
of British Columbia
UBC has a sizeable array of organizationally scattered environmental programs. At the
undergraduate level these include (average annual number of degrees granted in
brackets38):
. Two Faculties offering applied natural resource programming- Forestry (31) and
Land and Food Systems (58)
• Departments of Geography and Earth and Ocean Sciences (13)
• Environmental Sciences (14)
• Environmental Engineering (new program - joint with UNBC)
• Environmental Design (15 - one year)
• Ecology and Environmental Biology (N/A)
Graduate Master's programs in environment include:
• Two Faculties offering applied natural resource programming - Forestry (27) and
Land and Food Systems (12)
• School of Community and Regional Planning (33)
• Institute for Resource Management and Environmental Studies (11)
UBC-Okanagan has a Department of Chemistry, Earth & Environmental Sciences that offers BSc
degrees in Earth and Environmental Sciences, Environmental Chemistry, and Freshwater Science.
UBC is over twice as large as SFU and its roughly similar scale of environmental programming means
that it is slightly less intensive than SFU in this field. Environmental research at UBC is generally
departmentally-based, but there are several research centres and institutes, notably the
Sustainable Development Research Initiative and the Biodiversity Research Centre. The high-
profile Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS) has substantial involvement of SFU
faculty.4°
http://www.Pair.ubc.ca/student/prog.htm .
Excludes food, nutrition, and health degrees.
40
p ://www.cirs.ubc.ca/
.
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
47
This year UBC established the College for Interdisciplinary Studies, now the academic home for
several environmental teaching and research units
.41
A UBC Senate motion says that the mandate
of the College will be to facilitate and support interdisciplinarity campus-wide and to serve as a
place for the creation, development, and dissemination of new and important scholarly activities
according to UBC's strategic vision. This vision includes the statement that UBC will "promote the
values of a civil and sustainable society". The mechanisms for facilitating campus-wide
interdisciplinarity are apparently still under development.
University
of Victoria
The most notable organizational feature of UVic's environmental profile is its School of the
Environment, established in 1997. The School is located in the Faculty of Social Sciences and
succeeds an earlier Environmental Studies Program that began in 1974. The School has a large
undergraduate Environmental Studies Program that offers an "Environmental" degree notation
when the School's curriculum is combined with another major or honours program (B.A. or
B.Sc.). 42
The School has taught an average 134 Efls per year over the last five years.
43
A new
graduate program has recently been introduced. UVic also has environmental programming in the
School of Earth and Ocean Sciences (8 undergraduate and 9 Master's) and the Department of
Geography (80 B.Sc. and 7 M.Sc.). Overall, UVic's environmental programming is roughly similar
in size to SFU's but has more undergraduate emphasis.
University
of Northern B.C.
UNBC has probably the most complete set of environmental programs of any Canadian university.
They are all located in the College of Science and Management. The departmental units include:
• Chemistry, Environmental Science (BSc) and Environmental Engineering (BASc)45
• Ecosystem Science and Management - Natural Resources Management-Forestry (BSc);
Natural Resources Management - Wildlife and Fisheries (BSc); Environmental Studies (BA)
• Geography (BSc)
• Planning (BPI)
Some of these programs also offer graduate degrees. Statistical information on program size is not
available in UNBC's statistical publication. 46
However, UNBC is a 4,000-headcount university and
none of these programs will be very large.
See http://www.cfis.ubc.ca/.
42
See htt
p ://web.uvic.ca/calendar2007/FAC5/FoSoS/SoEnS/ESPr.html
. The School also offers an
Environmental Studies double major but there have not been any degrees granted of this type in the last two
httD://www.inst.uvic.ca/enrotment/tabte4a/er
tabte4a. r,df
p ://www.inst.uvic.calfactbook/fb table26. pdf
. ?
45
Joint with UBC; first two years and last term at UNBC.
/www.
unbc.ca/about/-guide/index.htmt
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
48
Ro yal
Roads University
RRU has a School of Environment and Sustainability in its Faculty of Social and Applied Sciences.
Undergraduate BSc degrees in Environmental Science and Environmental Management are offered
along with Master's degrees in Environment and Management and in Environmental Education and
Communication. RRU enrollment information is not program-specific but total FTE enrollment is
under 2,000. RRU is also home to the Canadian Centre for Environmental Education (CCEE) which
offers education, training, professional development and accreditation for members of the
environmental professions. The CCEE is a partnership between Royal Roads University and the
Environmental Careers Organization of Canada.
Other Canadian Universities
The Working Group 3 Report included information on environmental programming and organization
at a number of Canadian universities. Table 4 (next page) expands their sample and focuses on the
organizational structure and teaching programs of other universities' environmental programming.
Only universities offering environmental programs with specific university-Level environmental units
are included.47
Most of the universities included in this section have institutionally more prominent environmental
units than SFU. Some have re-organized around environmental themes quite recently or are in the
process of doing so. Some of these reorganizations have involved the relocation of existing
environmentally-related departments, but not all have done this. It was not possible to assess the
success of these various arrangements.
Compared to SFU, most of these universities have more environmental degree programs and seem
to have established better integration with related departments in their university. Overall, most
offer a larger number of environmental courses that provide a fuller coverage of scientific and
applied perspectives. However, enrollments are not large anywhere and, despite increased public
interest in environmental subjects, do not seem to be growing, especially at the undergraduate
level. Nevertheless, most of these universities are graduating more undergraduate students in
environmental programs than SFU and many of these programs offer a more comprehensive
exposure to environmental topics.
The sources for this information are various university websites. URL5 are available from the author.
S
[1
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
49
Table 4
?
Environmental Organization at Selected Canadian Universities
University
.
Environmental
Components
Undergraduate and Master's
Size (average
Faculty or
DegreePrograms
annual
Equivalent
graduates
last five
years)
Alberta
Faculty of
Department of
BSc, Environmental and
N/A
Agriculture,
Renewable Resources
Conservation Sciences; MSc
Forestry and
Home
Economics
Calgary
Faculty of
____________
MEDes, Environmental Science
14
Environmental
Design
__________________
Dalhousie
Faculty of
School for Resource and
Master of Environmental Studies
N/A
Management
Environmental Studies
(MES), Master of Resource and
Environmental Management
(MREM).
Guelph
Ontario
Faculty of Environmental
BSc, Environmental Sciences;
N/A
Agricultural
Sciences; School of
MSc, Rural Planning and
College
Environmental Design
Development
and Rural Development
Manitoba
Clayton H.
Department of
BSc., Physical Geography,
78 UG; 23 G
Riddell Faculty
Environment It
Bachelor of Environmental
(2005)
of
Geography; Department
Sciences, Bachelor of
Environment,
of Geological Sciences;
Environmental Studies, Master of.
Earth, and
Natural Resources
Environmental Science, Master of
Resources
Institute
Environment; BSc, Geological
Sciences, MSc, Geological
Sciences; Master of Natural
Resources Management
_______
McGill
_________
McGill School
(17 faculty jointly
BA, Environment, BSc,
N/A
of
appointed with other
Environment; Graduate
Environment
units)
Environment Option
Queen's
Faculty of Arts
School of Environmental
BSc, Environmental Science,
N/A
and Science
Studies
Master of Environmental Studies
Saskatchewan
School of
Master of Environment, Master of
Environment
Applied Environmental Processes,
and
M.A. or M.Sc. programs on
Sustainability
(proposed)
environmental themes (proposed)
Toronto
Faculty of Arts
Centre for Environment
Collaborative master's programs,
N/A (began
and Science
Master of Environmental
in 2005)
Science; Collaborative
undergraduate programs in
environment and science,
environmental policy and
practice, and environment and
society
Waterloo
Faculty of
Department of
Bachelor of Environmental
230 UG; 52 G
Environmental
Environment and
Studies; MA, Planning; Master of
Studies
Resource Studies,
Environmental Studies; Master of
Department of
Applied Environmental Studies
Geography, School of
and others
Planning
York
Faculty of
Bachelor in Environmental
65 UG; 107 G
Environmental
Studies; Master in Environmental
Studies
Studies
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
50
C. A NEW ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAMMING VISION FOR SFU
This section outlines the views on environmental programming at SFU offered during the various
consultation opportunities leading up to the completion of this report. There were many different
interests and priorities revealed during this process but there was a strong consensus for SFU
undertaking a significant environmental programming initiative at this time. The confluence of
major academic restructuring in parts of the University at the same time as greatly expanded
interest in environmental issues among governments, funding agencies, potential donors, and
society as a whole offers a unique opportunity, in the view of most consultation participants.
Scope of
Environmental Programming
Environmental program units at most universities concentrate on the relationships between natural
environment and the other aspects of the human environment. This means that outcomes such as
"sustainability" are defined in terms of the natural environment. Some participants were
concerned that this approach might lead to insufficient importance being given to social and policy
aspects of environmental teaching and research. The opinion of most was that an environmental
initiative at SFU should embody the elements of "environment" and "sustainability" but not
"development". "Development" within the context of environment and sustainability was also
seen as important but most opinion was that the concept of sustainability captures the issues of
development without invoking the latter term's broad application to other areas.
There was wide agreement that an environmental initiative must bring together the humanities,
natural, applied, and social sciences in an integrated multi- and inter-disciplinary strategy. What
is needed, in the view of many, is a unit that could function effectively as a synergizer of the
various environmental interests and capabilities at SFU. While most supported a Faculty of the
Environment and Sustainability (FES) 48
rather than an environmental and sustainability institute,
even of a new type, there was a minority opinion that many of the identified integration and
collaboration needs could be addressed just as effectively by an institute with special powers to
appoint faculty and offer courses.
The Visioning Workshop participants accepted the following as important principles for a multi-
disciplinary environmental initiative:
1.
Graduate versatile students
2.
Maintain respect for each other's disciplines
This title will be used in the remaining sections
of
this report but the name of a new Faculty is less
important than its mission and structure.
?
0
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
51
3.
Show commitment to students and interdisciplinary teaching
4.
Be open to participating in integrative research
5. Be involved with British Columbia and Canadian environmental issues but maintain
a global perspective and address environmental problems in other countries.
Approaches to Undergraduate Program Development
Workshop participants noted that one of the key opportunities for an environmental initiative at
SFU was the improvement and expansion of undergraduate education. There was considerable
discussion of how to improve undergraduate environmental programming and develop new
programs and approaches to teaching. Various shortcomings of SFU's existing undergraduate
environmental programs were mentioned. The following were offered as undergraduate program
suggestions as part of a new environmental initiative.
General Objectives
• While there was some sentiment in favour of programming focused on elite students it was
recognized that environmental programs must also be accessible to the general
undergraduate student body.
• Improve current environmental programs which do not seem to be able to flourish in their
current settings and structures.
• Programs should not be overly prescriptive and must allow sufficient elective choice for
students.
The University's undergraduate environmental programs should have components that lead
to an environmental degree as well as components that develop an environmental
competence to accompany discipline-based majors. Where appropriate, professional
certification should be facilitated.
Pro g
ram Features
• Create cohort-based degree programs that include a range of degree types ranging from
B.Sc., through "B.Env." to B.A.
• Create some courses that would be multidisciplinary and might use team teaching. A
capstone course of the "How to Improve the World" type should be included.
. Create a non-degree cohort-based program that would consist perhaps of one course per
year where students would engage in seminar style discussions around the "big issues" of
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
52
the environment such as global warming, climate change, etc. Could consider recognizing
this activity through an "environment" designation added to discipline-based degrees.
. Collaboration with other institutions would be helpful for some program specialties (an
example of a collaboration with BCIT was identified).
• The following were suggested as course and/or concentration areas: Environmental Health,
Conservation and Wildlife Management, Toxicology, Water Resources, Environmental
Literature, Climate Change, Geographical Information Science.
Development of human and social skills of students should be encouraged and incorporated
into course content wherever possible.
Experiential learning opportunities through field work, student internships and the
Co-op Program were considered to be highly desirable.
Future Development
• There was considerable discussion concerning the desirability and feasibility of adding an
environmental literacy requirement for all undergraduate students
.49
This was generally
supported, but it was recognized that serious consideration of this idea would have to wait
until the new W, Q B requirements had been fully introduced.
• SFU should consider developing programming with partner institutions around the world.
This would provide students with an unparalleled education and understanding of
environment and sustainability issues worldwide and serve SFU's commitment to
internationalization objectives. Joint programming, field schools, international exchange
programs, were a few of the examples provided for such an approach. This would give SFU
a larger profile and presence than could be achieved through local talent and resources.
Approaches to Graduate Program Development
There was relatively little discussion of graduate programming. Some participants thought that
new graduate programming would naturally follow from the formation of an FES and that existing
graduate programming in the area of the environment would be improved.
For a positive evaluation of a similar requirement at the University of Georgia see Gwyneth L. Moody and
Peter G. Hartel (2006), "Evaluating an Environmental Literacy Requirement Chosen as a Method to produce
Environmentally Literate University Students," International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 8,
pp.
355-370.
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
53
The shortage of capacity in the MRM program was noted (only 15-20% of applicants accepted). A•
new environmental science graduate program was suggested as a desirable addition in a new
environmental initiative. The potential development of a new multi-institutional Master's program
in Sustainabitity Leadership at the Great Northern Way campus was also noted.
Research Opportunities
Participants agreed that there were now many opportunities for Large scale research projects and
programs involving researchers at many institutions and that having a central environmental unit at
SFU would help SFU's opportunities for participation. However, most participants felt that
environmental research collaboration among SFU faculty had not been significantly hindered by
lack of a central environmental unit. This opinion may lack personal experience with the
collaboration advantages conferred by a common organizational unit.
Outreach and Policy Impact
Participants believed that this was important and that the new initiative should strive to reach and
serve the public and private sectors, including non-traditional groups such as indigenous
communities. This should be an important objective in the mission of any new environmental unit.
0
?
Organizational Issues
In virtually all consultation events there was great interest in discussing organizational options and
considering the many organizational issues that might confront a new environmental initiative. It
will be important to have a manageable scope for programs and research collaborations and to
ensure that various synergies are Likely to be productive rather than diversionary.
Many participants said that SFU's current department-oriented academic structure created
barriers 50
, especially across Faculties, but there was a certain skepticism about a new FES
eliminating these barriers unless this was an explicit objective built into the Faculty itself and
facilitated by changes in University-level policy and practice. These changes should address, for
example, the problems posed by departmental pre-occupation with enrollment levels and
discouragement of departmental faculty from undertaking extra-departmental activities. A central
university official with funding to finance secondment of faculty to interdisciplinary initiatives was
suggested.
5°
Others referred to these restrictions less pejoratively as "boundaries" and argued the advantage of
. ?
departmental boundaries in avoiding duplication and ensuring recognition of discipline strengths and the
advantages of discipline-based programs.
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
54
• Some participants proposed that initially a new FES could aim to have 20 faculty members
drawn from existing SFU faculty including those whose existing units might move to FES
plus 20 new faculty members appointed once new programs were in place and as
enrollments and funding expanded. Later, suitable existing units and other suitable
individuals from existing units could join FES. Other participants proposed that a new FES.
could aim to include all suitable existing units from its outset plus suitable
environmentally-oriented faculty from other units.
• A planning ("greenhouse") committee of perhaps 10 faculty members was suggested as a
good start for the new interdiscipLinary parts of this initiative. This group would be
responsible for creating a new organizational culture - it was noted that leadership in the
phase would be critical to the success of an FES. The committee would be the strategic
planning committee for new interdisciplinary programming that would guide its
development, nourish these programs as they evolved, and represent these newly emerging
areas within FES.
• Although a cautious and careful approach ("take time to do it right") was urged in building
this new Faculty, several participants suggested that a strong, visible, and spectacular start
would ensure that the institutional advantages of an environmental initiative were
maximized. The importance of suitable, contiguous physical space was noted. Other
participants felt that the opportunity to act was limited and, if SFU did not move now, it
would have lost its opportunity and potential external sources of funding from private and
public sectors would go to other universities who had moved more quickly.
• Participants envisaged five types of participation of faculty members in the environmental
initiative: (1) all faculty members in an existing unit; (2) individual faculty members
transferred on a permanent basis; (3) individual faculty members with joint appointments;
(4) individual faculty members on part- or full-time secondment for a fixed period of 1,3,
or 5 years; and (5) affiliated (Associate Member) involvement. New faculty members could
be placed in any one of these five categories.
• There was a general agreement that current joint appointment policies are unattractive,
especially for junior faculty and that current ad hoc secondment procedures and practices
should be codified in University policy.
D. REVIEW OF ORGANIZATIONAL OPTIONS FOR SFU
As mentioned earlier, four organizational options for a possible environmental initiative were
identified for consideration by Working Group 3 of the Phase 2 Task Force on Academic Structure.
Working Group 3 also said that any new organizational arrangement should be attractive to
students, encourage faculty collaboration in teaching and research, and contribute to meeting the
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
55
University's societal responsibilities. The advantages and disadvantages of each of the identified
options are discussed in this section with a focus on how well each would address SFU's current
environmental programming opportunities and what risks might be associated with each. The
discussion here is partly based on views expressed during the consultation process but also draws
on SFU's earlier experiences with programming and organization.
1. Maintain the Status Quo
In this option the current academic organization of environmental units continues. Partly because
of the effects of the consultation process of the last two months, there should be some evolution
towards more collaboration among environmentally-oriented faculty and it is reasonable to expect
that some revision of the Environmental Science program could occur without organizational
change. Because of anticipated changes elsewhere, the School of Resource and Environmental
Management would probably need a new Faculty home but that could be accomplished in a number
of ways that would still look like the status quo for most. The advantages of the status quo option
are that it would be easy to accomplish and its direct financial costs would be minimal. It would
also leave intact the strong discipline-based environmental capabilities at SFU and would not risk
damage to departments for whom other options (such as creation of a Faculty of Environment and
Sustainability) are seen as threats. The disadvantage of the status quo is that it would be seen as
doing nothing; this would be deeply disappointing to many environmental faculty and would appear
to students and to SFU's external communities that the University was falling short of meeting its
educational and societal responsibilities. SFU would lag farther behind other Canadian universities
in its approaches to interdisciplinary teaching and research in environment and sustainability.
2.
Establish an Institute for Environment and Sustainability
In discussions, this option has usually been presented with the additional modifier "new type".
There appeared to be a variety of meanings to these words but they usually seemed to mean an
institute that had faculty appointments and offered its own courses (and maybe programs) as
well.
51
The university's Centres and Institutes Policy (R40.01
)52
defines centres and institutes as
follows:
1.2 Centres are non-departmental academic or administrative units which are
established for special purposes, of an ongoing nature, related to the goals of the
University.
51
Actually, this would not be that new. The Institute for Health Research and Education (2000) was given
•
?
http://www.sfu.ca/v p academic/Academic—Planning/Heatth Initiative/ Final Pro p osal. html
http://www.sfu.ca/poilcies/research/r4O-Ol.htm
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
56
1.3 The purposes of centres encompass, but are not limited to, the following: to
facilitate collaborative research, especially multi-disciplinary research; to
undertake specific types of teaching or training programs; to facilitate multi-
university initiatives, such as centres of excellence; and to provide specific types of
services to the community.
This language would seem to allow an environmental institute to have faculty appointment and
teaching functions as described above but in fact almost no centres and institutes have done more
than promote faculty co-operation and involvement in research projects of common interest. A
new Centres and Institutes Policy has been discussed but there is no information concerning how
this policy would be different.
The advantage of the institute option is that it would create a unit committed to interdisciplinary
work on the environment and sustainability and would be a low-key and non-threatening way of
accomplishing this. Its disadvantage is that an environmental and sustainability institute could just
be another research center or institute with Little or no connection to the University's teaching
programs. At the same time, there could be a risk of duplication of existing courses and programs.
An institute would be seen by many as a timid choice in relation to the opportunities and needs
articulated by many consultation participants.
3. Create a New School of Environment
and Sustainability
Under this option the current School of Resource and Environmental Management would
presumably be the core of a new School with a modified name and an expanded teaching role that
went well beyond its current graduate programs and likely included some existing and/or new
undergraduate programs. Other faculty members could join this new School under any of the
methods described earlier in this report. A Faculty home for this new School would need to be
found. The advantage of this option is that it would amount to a more significant and enabled
response to the perceived opportunity for expanded research, teaching, and outreach. The
disadvantage is that it would in effect attach a variety of interests and opportunities to a unit that
might not be ready to see its current priorities and operation so drastically changed. Also, it could
be seen as not amounting to much change in the status quo.
A second School-type option would be to create a new School of Environment and Sustainability
while leaving the School of Resource and Environmental Management substantially as it is. While
this would risk duplication of effort it would avoid some of the disadvantages of the other version
of this option. However, there would then be two units to place in some Faculty where they might
not fit very well.
0
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
0 ?
4. Create a New Faculty of Environment and Sustainability
Creating a Faculty of Environment and Sustainability would be the strongest response to the
current opportunity. This option had by no means universal support among consultation
participants but it seemed to have majority support. Considering the greater voice that Faculties
have had in the University, a Faculty of Environment and Sustainability would represent a
considerable elevation in priority for its areas of interest. That, plus the ability to gather
participation from across the University and to provide a good platform for program development
and outreach would be the main advantages of such a Faculty. The three criteria proposed by
Working Group 3 would be met - the new Faculty could be expected to attract students, encourage
faculty collaboration
53
,
and address SFU's societal responsibilities. The disadvantages would be the
costs, financial and administrative, of creating a new Faculty and possible difficulties in reaching
suitable agreement on its priorities and programs.
E. CONCLUSION
Public and media interest in environment and sustainability and the emergence of uncertainty
concerning environmental issues and the design and implementation of policies to address these
issues is a call for universities to consider how to best use their substantial environmental
capabilities. The other three research universities in BC are, in various ways, ahead of SFU in
environment and sustainability programming despite proportionately similar capabilities. Although
SFU has considerable strengths in the field of environment and sustainability, many universities
across Canada seem to be doing more. The weight of opinion gathered in the consultation process
leading to this report strongly supports SFU undertaking an environmental programming initiative
now.
Most of the opinion in the consultation process supported the creation of a Faculty of Environment
and Sustainability although there were many differences about how it should be structured. Four
particular issues would need to be addressed as part of a decision to proceed in this way.
1)
Agreement on a vision statement that set out the scope and purposes of the Faculty;
2)
Decisions on whether any existing units should immediately be transferred to the
Faculty;
3)
Undertakings to review all existing environmental programs and undertake planning for
new programs;
Recall that structure and mission are two variables that have been found to promote collaboration. Kezar
(2006).
.
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
58
4) Agreement on mechanisms to encourage effective participation by faculty members
and students in the work of the new Faculty.
?
S
SFU could have a greater institutional presence from its 70-plus environmental faculty than it does
now. The University could be educating more undergraduate and graduate students in
environmental programs, participating in more inter-university collaborative research projects,
benefiting from donor interest in giving to environmental endeavours, and providing more tangible
evidence of participation in program activities that reflect public and governmental priorities. The
three Vice-Presidents who are responsible for research, advancement, and government relations
strongly support the view that a Faculty of Environment and Sustainability would be beneficial in
these areas. It seems unlikely that SFU will secure many of these benefits with the organizational
and programmatic status quo.
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
59
Appendix 2 ?
Existing Environmental Programs at SFU
Founding FES Units (Environmental and Other):
Resource and Environmental Management
Master's degree (MRM) in Resource Management
Ph.D. in Resource and Environmental Management
Graduate Diploma in Quantitative Methods in Fisheries Management
Environmental Science
B.Sc. in Environmental Science - streams are Biology, Chemistry, Environmetrics,
Physical Geography, Pollutant Transport, and Quantitative Techniques for Resource
Management
Geography
B.A. Geography - Environmental Specialty
B.A. Geography - Environment and Resources stream
B.Sc. Physical Geography
Certificate in Spatial Information Systems
M.A. Geography
M.Sc. Geography
Ph.D. Geography
Centre for Sustainable Community Development
Undergraduate Certificate
Post Baccalaureate Diploma
Professional Certificate
Development Studies
Certificate in Development Studies
Units outside FES:
Archaeology
Cultural Resource Management (graduate specialization)
Biological Sciences
Environmental Toxicology Minor
Chemistry
Environmental Chemistry Minor
Earth Sciences
B.Sc. Earth Science - Specialization in Environmental Geoscience
M.Sc. Earth Science - Environmental Specialization
0
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
60
Appendix 3
?
Existing Environmental Courses at SFU
FES founding units
Unit
?
Course I Course name
?
Already used in
an
environmental
or
sustainability
program
EVSC
200-3
Intro to Environmental Science
*
EVSC
380-3
Practicum I
*
EVSC
381-3
Practicum II
*
EVSC
401-1
Current Topics in Environmental Science
*
EVSC
480-3
Practicum III
*
EVSC
481-3 Practicum IV
*
EVSC
482-3
Practicum V
*
EVSC
491W-3
Advanced Field Studies in Environmental Science
*
SCD
201-3
Intro to Sustainable Community Development
*
SCD
301-4
Sustainable Community Development Theory and Practice
*
SCD
401-4
Social Enterprise for Sustainable Community Development
*
SOD
403-4
Leadership in Sustainable Community Development
*
SOD
404-4 Project in Sustainable Community Development
*
SCD
410-4
Special Topics in Sustainable Community Development
*
SOD
412-4
Directed Studies in Sustainable Community Development
*
REM
100-3
Global Change
*
REM
311-3
Applied Ecology and Sustainable Environments
*
REM
356-3
Institutional Arrangements for Sustainable Environmental Managemen *
REM
412-3 Environmental Modeling
*
REM
445-3 Environmental Risk Assessment
*
REM
471-3 Forest Ecosystem Management
*
REM
601-5 Social Science of Natural Resources Management
*
REM
602-5
Natural Resource Management II: Advanced Seminar
*
REM
609-5 Evaluation of Management Strategies for Living Resources
*
REM
310-5
Applied Environmental Toxicology and Environmental Management of *
Contaminants
REM
611-5
Population and Community
*
REM
612-5
Simulation Modelling in Natural Resource Management
*
REM
613-5
Methods in Fisheries Assessment
*
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
REM
614-5
Advanced Methods in Fisheries Assessment ?
*
.
REM
621-5
Ecological Economics
?
*
REM
625-5
Risk Assessment and Decision Analysis for Management of Natural
?
*
REM
631-5
Earth Systems and Global Change to Environmental Management ?
*
REM
632-5
Terrain Evaluation ?
*
REM
633-5
Introduction to Remote Sensing and Aerial Photographic Interpretatior *
REM
636-5 Applications of GIS in Resource and Environmental Management
?
*
REM
641-5 Law and Resources ?
*
REM
642-5
Regional Planning I ?
*
REM
643-5
Environmental Conflict and Dispute Resolution
?
*
REM
644-5
Public Policy Analysis and Administration
?
*
REM
645-5
Resource Development Communities ?
*
REM
646-5
Environmental and Social Impact Assessment and Environmental
?
*
Management Systems
REM
647-5
Parks and Outdoor Recreation Planning ?
*
REM
648-5
The Tourism System
?
*
REM
649-5
Tourism Planning and Policy
?
*
REM
650-5
Energy and Materials Management and Policy ?
*
REM
651-5
Project Evaluation and Non-market Valuation Methods ?
*
REM
652-5
Community Tourism Planning and Development
?
*
•
REM
REM
655-5
658-5
Water Planning and Management
?
*
*
Energy
?
and
?
Materials
Systems Modeling
REM
660-5 Special Topics in Natural Resources Management
?
*
REM
661-5
Special Topics in Resource Management
?
*
REM
662-5
Special Topics in Resource Management
?
*
REM
663-5
Special Topics in Resource Management ?
*
REM
664-5
Directed Studies
?
*
REM
670-5
Introduction to Forestry
?
*
REM
671-5
Forest Ecology
?
*
REM
672-5
Silviculture
?
*
REM
690-0
Practicum I
?
*
REM
691-0
Practicum II
?
*
REM
698-3
Field Resource Management Workshop
?
*
REM
699-10
Research Project
?
*
REM
801-5
Principles of Research Methods
?
*
REM
802-5
Research Approaches for REM PhD Students
?
*
REM
899-10
PhD Thesis
?
*
GEOG
100-3
Human Geography
?
*
GEOG
102-3
World Problems in Geographic Perspective
.
GEOG
111-3
Physical Geography
*
61
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
62
GEOG
?
162-3 Canada
GEOG
213-3
Geomorphology I
*
GEOG
214-3
Climatology I
*
GEOG
215-3
Biogeography
*
GEOG
221-3
Economic Geography
*
GEOG
241-3
Social Geography
*
GEOG
250-3
Cartography I
*
GEOG
251-3
Quantitative Geography
*
GEOG
253-3 Aerial Photographic Interpretation
*
GEOG
255-3
Geographical Information Science I
*
GEOG
261-3
Introduction to Urban Geography
GEOG
263-3' Selected Regions
GEOG
264-3
Canadian Cities
GEOG
265-3
Geography of BC
GEOG
300-4 Possible Worlds: The Rise of Geographical Thinking
GEOG
301-4 Geographic Ideas and Methodology
GEOG
302-3
Geography Practicum I
GEOG
303-3
Geography Practicum II
GEOG
310-4
Physical Geography Field Course
GEOG
311-4
Hydrology
*
GEOG
312-4 Geography of Natural Hazards
*
GEOG
313-4
Geomorphology II
*
GEOG
314-4
Climatology II
*
GEOG
315-4
Regional Ecosystems
*
GEOG
316-4
Ecosystem Biogeochemistry
*
GEOG
317-4
Soil Science I
*
GEOG
322-4
World Resources
*
GEOG
322W-4
World Resources
GEOG
323-4
Industrial Location
*
GEOG
324-4
Geography of Transportation
GEOG
325-4
Geographies of consumption
GEOG
327-4 Geography of Tourism
GEOG
351-4 Cartography and Visualization
*
GEOG
352-4
Spatial Analysis
*
GEOG
353-4
Remote Sensing
*
GEOG
354-4 Intro to Geographic Information Systems
*
GEOG
355-4 Geographical Information Science II
*
GEOG
356-4
Cognitive Geovisualization
*
GEOG
362-4 Geography of Urban Development
GEOG
362W-4 Geography of urban Development
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
GEOG
363-4
Urban Planning and Policy
GEOG
377-4
Environmental History
GEOG
381-4
Political Geography
GEOG
381W-4
Political Geography
GEOG
382-4
Population Geography
GEOG
383-4
Regional Development and Planning I
GEOG
385-4
Agriculture and the Environment
GEOG
386-4 Geography, Health and Health Care
GEOG
387-4
Geography and Gender
GEOG
389W-4
Human Ecology: Human Relations to Nature
GEOG
391-4
Qualitative Research Methods
GEOG
402-3
Geography Practicum Ill
GEOG
403-3
Geography Practicum IV
GEOG
404-2
Directed Readings
GEOG
405-4
Directed Readings
GEOG
409-3
Geography Practicum V
GEOG
411-4
Hydrology II
GEOG
412-4 Glacial Processes and Environments
GEOG
412W-4
Glacial Processes and Environments
GEOG
413-4
Geomorphology III
.
GEOG
414-4
Climatology Ill
GEOG
415-4
Advanced Biogeography
GEOG
416W-4 Pleistocene Geography
GEOG
417-4
Soil Science II
GEOG
417W-4 Soil Science II
GEOG
420-4
Cultural Geography
GEOG
422-4
Theories and Practices of Development
GEOG
426-4
Industrial Change and Local Development
GEOG
427-4 Selected Topics in the Geography of Tourism
GEOG
428-4
World forests
GEOG
429-4
Environment and Inequality
GEOG
432-4
Problems in Environmental History
GEOG
440-4
Law and Geography
GEOG
440W-4
Law and Geography
GEOG
441-4
Cities, Space, and Politics
GEOG
444-4
Regional Development and Planning II
GEOG
445-4
Resources Planning
GEOG
446-4
Migration and globalization
GEOG
449-4
Environmental processes and Urban Development
GEOG ?
451-4 Spatial Modeling
63
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
64
*
40
0
GEOG
453W-4
Remote Sensing of Environment
GEOG
455-4
Theoretical and Applied GIS
GEOG
457-4
Geovisualization Interfaces
GEOG
460-4
Selected Regions
GEOG
462-4
The Geography of the United States
GEOG
4664
Latin American Regional Development
GEOG
468-4
Society and Environment in China
GEOG
469-4
The Canadian North and Middle North
GEOG
489-4
Selected Topics
GEOG
490-4
Selected Topics
GEOG
491-4
Honors Essay
GEOG
497-5
International Field Study
GEOG
600-0
Introduction to Graduate Studies: Fall Semester
GEOG
601-0
Introduction to graduate Studies: Spring Semester
GEOG
604-5
Research Design and Analytical Techniques in Human Geography
GEOG
605-4
Geographic Ideas and Methodology
GEOG
606-5
Research Design and Analytical Techniques in Physical Geography
GEOG
611-4
Hydrology
GEOG
612-4
Glacial Geomorphology
GEOG
613-4
Fluvial Geomorphology
GEOG
614-4
Climatology
GEOG
615-4
Quaternary Environments
GEOG
617-4
Soil Science
GEOG
620-4
Selected Topics: Economy, Environment and development
GEOG
622-4
Theories and Practices of Development
GEOG
626-4
Multinational Corporations and Regional Development
GEOG
640-4
Selected Topics in Social and Urban Geography
GEOG
641-4
Morphogenesis and the Build Environment
GEOG
644-4
Regional Development and Planning
GEOG
645-4
Resource Management
GEOG
646-4
Cultural Geography
GEOG
651-4
Advanced Spatial Analysis and Modeling
GEOG
653-4 Theoretical and Applied Remote Sensing
GEOG
655-4
Advanced principles of Geographic Information Science
GEOG
656-4
Aerial Reconnaissance for Remote Sensing
GEOG
666-4
Geography, Development Theory, and Latin America
GEOG
681-4
Law and the Geographies of Power
GEOG
685-4
Resources, Environment and Food Production
GEOG
691-4
Directed Readings
GEOG
697-6 MSc Thesis
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
65
GEOG
698-6
MA Thesis
GEOG
699-6
PhD Thesis
Sample of related courses external to FES:
Note that many faculties
and departments have Special Topic offerings related to the environment and
sustainability.
DIAL
390-392 Undergraduate Semester: Seminar, Dialogue and Final Project
DIAL
460
Seminar in Dialogue and Public Issues
EASC
104
Geohazards - Earth in Turmoil
EASC
107
Economic Geological Resources
EASC
303
Environmental Geoscience
EASC
304
Hydrogeology
EASC
313
Introduction to Soil and Rock Engineering
EASC
314
Principles of Glaciology
EASC
410
Groundwater Contamination and Transport
EASC
411
Terrain Analysis
EASC
412
Groundwater Geochemistry
EASC
413
Resource Geotechnics
EASC
418
Terrain Stability: Assessment and Mitigation
EASC
419
Forest Harvesting Technology
.
EASC
603
Field Techniques in Hydrogeology
EASC
605
Advanced Glaciology
EASC
613
Groundwater Modelling
EASC
619
Environmental Geoscience
EASC
623
Groundwater Resource Evaluation
SA
371
The Environment and Society
SA
363
Process of Development and Underdevelopment
EDUC
452
Environmental Education
WS
313
Women and the Environment
ECON
260
Environmental Economics
ECON
362
Economics of Natural Resources
ECON
460
Seminar in Environmental Economics
HSCI
216
Ecological Determinants of Human Growth, Development and Health
HSCI
304
Perspectives on Environmental Health
HSCI
443
Environmental Health Toxicology Lab
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
66
HSCI ?
845 ?
Environmental and Occupational Health
CMNS
326
Applied Media Workshop
CMNS
331
News Discourse and Political Communication
CMNS
342
Science and Public Policy: Risk Communication
CMNS
346
Communication and Development
CMNS
347
Communication in Conflict and Intervention
CMNS
423
Globalization: Cultural issues
CMNS
425
Applied Communication for Social Issues
CMNS
433
Opinion, Propaganda and Political Communication
CMNS
444
Political Economy of International Communication
CMNS
446
The Communication of Science and Transfer of Technology
CMNS
447
Negotiation and Dialogue as Communication
CMNS
456
Communication to Mitigate Disasters
CMNS
845
Communication and Development
CMNS
858
Communication to Mitigate Disasters
SCI
300-3
Science and its Impact on Society
BISC
204
Introduction to Ecology
BISC
309
Conservation Biology
BISC
312
Environmental Toxicology
BISC
440
Biodiversity
Li
.
BUS
?
716 ?
Sustainability
URB ?
630 ?
Urban Development, Planning and Policy
URB ?
645 ?
Urban Sustainable Development
Others include PSYC, ACMA, ARCH, HUM, POL SCI.
0
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
Appendix 4
SFU Expertise Relevant to FES
Department of Geography
• Ice motion, stability and decay (evolution and controls)
• Climatology
• Natural hazards
• River environments, science and management
• Sea-level change
• Global distribution of plants and animals
• Regional ecosystems
• Inland Water Ecology
• Forest ecology and management
• Soil science
• HilIslope and watershed hydrology
• Environmental earth science
• Landscape change (rivers)
• Environment and development
• Environmental ethics, economics and policy
• Resource planning
• BC forest economy and environmental conflict
• Society and environment
• Property and rights
• Rural development
• ?
• Community development
• Primary health care
• Social and cultural theories of consumption, multiculturalism and sustainable tourism
• Relationships between space, society, and power
• Political and cultural economy of labour
• Sustainable community development
• Property rights in natural resources and landscape transformations
• Pacific fisheries history
• Land use, land cover changes, urban sprawl, forestry, landscape ecology
• GIS environmental phenomena such as ocean circulation and tsunami
.• Airborne remote sensing of forest environments and aquatic habitats
• GIS and health informatics
School of Resource and Environmental Management
• Application of statistical and mathematical tools to marine ecology and resource
management
• Aquatic conservation and management of human impacts on aquatic ecosystems
• Tourism, community development and planning issues in tourist environments
• Behavior, effects and associated ecological and human health risks of chemical
pollutants in the environment
• Resource planning in public policy
• Social science survey methods, quantitative analysis, and trade-off modelling as they
relate to decision making in resource management
• Energy-economy models to assess sustainable energy and materials policies
• Economics of natural resource management in developing countries, valuation of
environmental resources, bioeconomic modeling
S
67
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
68
• Climate resources and global change
• Forest ecosystem dynamics, conservation, and management
• Fisheries risk assessment and management
• Common property theory and cultural/political ecology
• Human dimensions of environmental policy and planning
• Community development, employment, and sustainability of environmental and cultural
stewardship precepts and practices
• Policy, planning, and management issues in tourism and outdoor recreation
• Water and land management, environmental impact assessment, and
sustainable
development
Centre for Sustainable Community Development
• Sustainable community development, sustainable cities and communities
• Community economic development
• Planning and development theory, planning practice
.,Climate action and sustainability leadership
• Social economy, social enterprise
• Urban sustainable development theory, policy, and planning
• Local and regional development, rural sustainability
• Transformative learning, sustainability education and organizational change
• Research methods; participatory action research
• Sustainability indicators, sustainable consumption indicators and assessment
• Sustainability innovation and entrepreneurship
• Housing and community sustainability
• Collaborative learning and innovation; negotiation and dialogue
• Multi-stakeholder engagement, societal learning, and change
• Citizen involvement in economic development
• Labour market issues, unemployment, and earnings inequality
• Community food security, food system assessment
• Agrarian reform and sustainable agriculture
• Sustainability and health
• Aboriginal economic development, aboriginal entrepreneurship
• International SCD; building CED capacity in Latin America
• Corporate social responsibility, procurement, socially responsible investment
• Strategic planning and decision support tools
• Multi-level, collaborative governance in Canadian coastal regions
• Environmental sociology, community resource management, social movements
Environmental Science
• Biology: ecology, wildlife biology, evolutionary aspects, animal ecology, plant ecology,
cell biology, biological modeling, toxicology
• Chemistry: environmental chemistry, analytical chemistry, aquatic chemistry
• Statistics: statistical design
• Physics: energy and the environment
Sociology/Anthropology
• Environmental sociology
• Community resource management
• Anthropology of biology and conservation
• Social movements (environmental)
• Environment and urban anthropology
FES
Interdisciplinary
Programming Committee Report ?
69
• Natural resource development
.
?
• International electricity sector analysis ?
• Agricultural biotechnology
And others including:
Faculty of Business Administration
Faculty of Education
School of Engineering
School of Criminology
School of Communications
Department of Biology
Department of Chemistry
Department of Earth Sciences
Department of Archaeology
Centre for Canadian Studies
Department of Urban Studies
School for Contemporary Arts
Department of Political Science
Department of Philosophy
Department of English
Department of Economics
Department of Humanities
School of Engineering
Department of First Nations Studies
Department of Women's Studies
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
70
Appendix 5a
?
Interdisciplinary Program Proposal ?
Global Systems and Sustainability Strategies
Focus and rationale
The Earth system is constantly changing as a result of natural processes. Social and
economic systems are an integral part of the Earth system, and the era of industrialization
has added several new and rapidly changing pressures. These pressures affect both natural
and human systems and include a rapidly increasing human population, food security,
extensive natural resource use, large-scale pollution of air and water, ozone depletion, and
global warming. In the past few decades, the international community has recognized the
importance of not only increasing our scientific understanding of changes within the Earth
System, but also linking our scientific findings in a meaningful way to policy decisions and
the management of natural and human systems on a variety of spatial and temporal scales.
The goal of this interdisciplinary undergraduate program is to provide students with an
understanding of how human and natural systems interact to affect the environment on
regional to global scales, and to place this knowledge within the context of social and
economic systems, including policy analysis and governance. The research vision of faculty
and graduate students in this interdisciplinary program is to consider the impacts of global
change on natural and human systems through scientific quantification of these changes, to
assess the predictability and uncertainties of future change, and to apply this knowledge to
the develop better policies and management for the mitigation of, and adaptation to, those
changes.
SFU niche
Programs in 'Global Change Science' have existed for about two decades, and most Global
Change Science departments and centres focus on basic scientific understanding of natural
mechanisms in ocean, atmosphere, and land systems. While Global Change is often
considered synonymous with Climate Change, this particular SFU program would
differentiate itself with a focus on 'Global Systems' as they pertain to the natural
environment, as they interact with social and economic systems, and as they are addressed
by environmental policy and governance at local to global scales.
What also separates this program from others is a focus on sustainability strategies as
solutions to environmental issues. Solutions to environmental problems require the
integration of knowledge of both natural and social systems. This integrated approach with a
focus on applied problems will provide a unique educational niche for SFU students to
evaluate solutions to environmental problems that either currently exist or are predicted.
Researchers in this program will aim to develop new strategies that integrate an
understanding of social and natural systems and therefore will provide more effective
approaches to sustainable development.
Specifically, this program will also provide a convenient avenue by which the recently
created Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions (PICS) could link with the new faculty and
satisfy the PICS educational mandate. PICS was recently approved by BC Premier Gordon
Campbell; it is hosted by the University of Victoria and is operated in collaboration with the
University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, and the University of Northern
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
71
British Columbia. The institute has an endowment of $90M and was provided with $451VI in
. ?
operational funding for its first year, 2008. In addition to funding graduate fellowships, PIGS'
program responsibilities include "facilitating and promoting knowledge transfer activities."
This interdisciplinary program would provide an ideal mechanism for achieving this goal.
Potential student base and degree marketability
The goals of a successful undergraduate program within the Faculty of Environment are
threefold: (a) to groom students for further education in graduate programs, (b) to prepare
students for professional positions within the workforce, and (c) to make them more
environmentally aware citizens. Interdisciplinary programs that are designed to satisfy goals
(a) and (b) are likely to be quite different in design.
The undergraduate program in Global Systems would likely comprise two streams, including
a bachelor of 'science' and a bachelor of 'arts'. The 'arts' degree would be aimed at students
with a firm interest in topics such as environmental governance. The purpose of this division
is to ensure that students interested in the science of global systems obtain a sufficient
number of science courses to have a credible, science-based degree. An appropriate subset
and number of social science courses would complement this degree to provide students
with a societal perspective in which their scientific knowledge will be applied.
It is anticipated that undergraduate students planning to pursue graduate education would
have excellent preparation for degrees and careers in political science, public policy, law,
business, communications, resource management, climatology, applied biology, and
education. Skills in critical thinking, analysis, writing, and communication would provide a
• ?
competitive advantage in all job markets.
Elements of interdisciplinary program
This particular Interdisciplinary Program remains intentionally broad in order to provide a
means of capturing new and innovative directions that could be developed within the new
Faculty of Environment and Sustainability. However, there are several specific foci that
might exist underneath this particular Interdisciplinary umbrella. These are reflected by a
series of focused, upper-division courses that provide expertise in one area of Global
Systems. Examples include:
(a)
Environmental Governance -
In general, the curriculum would combine courses
which introduce a range of skills including the ability to understand and synthesize
environmental science, analyze the effects of environmental policies on economic
and social systems, and understand the full complexity of interaction between
political systems at different scales. The courses in this stream focus primarily on the
social sciences, but would require carefully designed instruction in the production,
understanding, and deployment of natural science, just as the proposed new water
science program would require targeted courses in the application of science in the
policy realm.
(b)
Climate Change, Mitigation, Adaptation, and Implementation -
The Faculty of
Environment Interdisciplinary Program Planning Committee has recognized that SFU
does not currently have sufficient, in-house resources to assemble a stand-alone
Climate Change Program, and that to do so would unnecessarily duplicate existing
excellent programs (e.g., University of Victoria) in the province. However, SFU
10
?
already has excellent researchers engaged in studying other aspects of climate
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
72
change, including mitigation, the effects of climate change on natural and human
systems (e.g. water and air quality, human health, ecosystem dynamics, and risk
analysis), and adaptation of these systems to future change. This particular stream
would combine courses in the natural and social sciences to provide an
interdisciplinary perspective on these issues.
(c)
Water
Science -
Water science has been proposed as a possible, stand-alone
Interdisciplinary Program. Issues of water resources, water quality, and the
governance thereof are relevant at local to global scales. Placement of this science
stream under the Global Systems and Sustainability Strategies umbrella is another
programming option.
Like other interdisciplinary programming within the Faculty of the Environment and
Sustainability, the Global Systems and Sustainability Strategies program will follow a flexible
template that provides all students with at least an overview of the environmental, economic,
social, and institutional dimensions of Sustainability, while also allowing them to specialize
more deeply in one of those areas.
Required programming for this degree should include cross-cutting courses that are offered
across the entire faculty. It is important that these courses are offered and taken at a faculty
level, so that each student gets the same solid foundation for their upper division courses:
• A
1styear
course that introduces the four pillar model of Sustainability, and therefore
provides an initial framework in which students will build their knowledge of global
systems.
• A
4th..year
'capstone' workshop that is problem-oriented that would allow students to
apply their learning to an explicit, modern-day environmental problem or situation.
This course offers students with experience in cross-disciplinary dialogue, and
different modes of delivery that they will encounter in when solving problems with
people of varying backgrounds and cultures in the 'real world'.
In keeping with the philosophy of the 4
th
-year capstone course, other upper-level required
courses within this interdisciplinary program (and the Faculty at large) will be developed that
incorporate cross-disciplinary dialogues and real-world problem-solving approaches to
expand upon students' abilities to understand and deal with complex environmental
problems.
The current focus of this interdisciplinary program is at the undergraduate level, but the
potential exists for this programming to develop into more focused programming at the
graduate level. For example, the Master of Climate Action and Sustainability Leadership
(MCASL), which is currently being developed by faculty at SFU, UBC, BUT and ECIAD at
the Great Northern Way Campus, would provide an excellent springboard for future
programs that might be developed at SFU. Furthermore, existing graduate programs at SFU
(e.g., REM, Geography, Earth Sciences, First Nations, Public Policy) have the potential to
contribute to (and draw students from) this program, as they have existing strengths in the
areas of natural sciences, environmental policy, management, and governance.
Incorporation of First Nations
Aboriginal and First Nations communities are actively seeking to build partnerships and
capacities to address inherent and disproportional vulnerability to development and global
change. Because most First Nations cannot relocate to avoid adverse effects, and because
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
VAI
of cultural and economic dependence on fishing and other customary forms of resource
Ol
harvesting, climate change, sustainability, and methods for environmental and social impact
analysis and mitigation are viewed as essential topics for discussion and action. Much work
remains to be done to reduce the impacts of land and resource development on indigenous
peoples in a manner meaningful in process or outcome to First Nations. For this reason, the
proposed program should be designed to include and take advantage of opportunities for
research, training, and outreach partnerships with First Nations and Aboriginal communities.
Involvement of First Nations can be further developed in the context of cross-cutting courses
that explore differing bases of knowledge, cultural values, modes of dialogue, and
communication that become important to equitable governance and management.
Fit with existing units within the Faculty of Environment and Sustainability and
integration with other SFU faculties
Such a degree requires a basis in natural system science but also requires core courses
that will provide students with a firm understanding of the four pillars of Sustainability, and
how they interact to address environmental issues. This program is likely to include existing
courses from the new Faculty's founding units including REM, the Environmental Science
Program, and Geography. Courses may also be drawn other Faculties including FASS (for
example, Communications, Sociology and Anthropology) and Faculty of Science. There is
also possibility to create linkages with Health Sciences (Global Health) as well as Business
(Environmental Economics), Engineering Science (Environmental Engineering), and
Education (Science and Environmental Education). Graduate work of the new CSCD Master
of Climate Action and Sustainability Leadership, which is currently being developed by
faculty at SFU, UBC, BUT and ECIAD at the Great Northern Way Campus, will also
• complement undergraduate studies and provide an avenue by which undergraduate
students are exposed to new and innovative research on sustainability strategies for
minimizing human impacts on natural systems.
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
74
Appendix 5b
Interdisciplinary Program
Biodiversity, Ecosystems and
Proposal '
?
0
Conservation
Focus and rationale
The recent UN-sponsored Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) reported that during
the last half-century, human activity has altered ecosystems more rapidly and extensively
than during any other period in human history, resulting in massive and in some cases
irreversible loss in Earth's biodiversity. This report poses a tremendous challenge for the
future; there is a dire need to enhance conservation and sustainable use of the Earth's
ecosystems while still meeting growing demands for food, water, timber and fiber.
Addressing this challenge will require an ever-growing scientific knowledge and monitoring
of Earth's changing ecosystems, as well as societal changes in policies, institutions and
practices.
The educational goal of this program is to prepare students to meet future challenges by
providing them with a solid basis that integrates biodiversity, ecosystems, and conservation,
while building a practical understanding of the ways that natural and conservation sciences
are used in the policy making process. The research goal of this program is to foster an
environment where faculty and researchers trained in traditional disciplines, such as biology,
ecology, forestry, marine and coastal sciences, climatology, and conservation science, have
the opportunity to combine their expertise with faculty trained in traditional social science
disciplines to advance excellent research that addresses current problems affecting local to
global scale ecosystems, generates policy-relevant knowledge, and conveys that knowledge
in ways that are effective for both policy-making and management of ecological systems.
The program title expresses the rationale. 'Biodiversity' captures the range of issues related
to organismal biology and diversity, 'ecosystems' ensures that broader issues tying
biodiversity to both ecological and physical processes are represented, and 'conservation'
indicates that both of these are being viewed through an applied lens
- with clear
relationships to the relevant social sciences as well.
SFU niche
While regional programs and centres in biodiversity and conservation already exist (for
example, the Centre for Biodiversity Research at UBC, Science, Zoology and Botany at
UBC, and the Undergraduate Program in Wildlands Conservation and Management and
Centre for Applied Conservation Biology, UBC, Forestry). These programs tend to be
organism-oriented, and they do not provide a vehicle for communication between separate
areas of study: one centre is very applied in orientation and one is very basic in orientation.
A new SFU program that integrates-the study of biodiversity, ecosystems, and conservation
has the potential to carve its own niche by offering an interdisciplinary approach and
providing distinct linkages between the natural and social sciences.
Potential student
base
and marketability
The goals of a successful undergraduate program within the Faculty of Environment are
threefold: (a) to groom students for further education in graduate programs, (b) to prepare
students for professional positions within the workforce, and (c) to make them more
.
0
FES InterdiscipLinary Programming Committee Report
?
75
environmentally aware citizens. Interdisciplinary programs that are designed to satisfy goals
(a) and (b) are likely to be quite different in design.
This program would provide a science-based degree, but with the options to earn the
equivalents of either a bachelor of 'science' or a bachelor of 'arts.' The former would provide
stronger scientific credentials for students intending to pursue graduate degrees or careers
in the sciences. Some students obtaining a degree in the area of Biodiversity, Ecosystems,
and Conservation would be prepared to pursue graduate degrees in programs such as
Ecology, Conservation, Environmental Policy, and Environmental Management and
Regulation.
The B.A. degree follows the model of a liberal arts degree. This degree would maintain a
core focus in sciences but with fewer required credits in natural sciences. Therefore, this
degree would provide more freedom to pursue courses in relevant disciplines within the
Faculty, such as environmental governance, development and the environment, and outside
the faculty, such as archaeology, First Nations studies, public policy, urban studies, and
anthropology.
In general, relevant careers for this degree include (but are not limited to) fields such as
Environmental Management and Regulation, Ecology, Environmental Policy, Conservation,
Waste Management, Outdoor Recreation Management, Research and Development, and
Academia. Potential employers for students with either a B.Sc. or B.A. degree might include:
non-governmental organizations, consulting firms, state and federal agencies, firms
specializing in conservation, ecology, and environmental issues, and scientific and research
• ?
groups.
Elements of interdisciplinary program
The concrete design of such a program is premature without proper time to consult with all
contributing units. As such the following section is necessarily general. However, the
following detailed elements might be incorporated into degree programs. This section
provides examples of existing programs that might interact with this new program.
Like other interdisciplinary programming within the Faculty of the Environment and
Sustainability, the Global Systems and Sustainability Strategies program will follow a flexible
template that provides all students with at least an overview of the environmental, economic,
social, and institutional dimensions of sustainability, while also allowing them to specialize
more deeply in one of those areas.
Required programming for this degree should include cross-cutting courses that are offered
across the entire faculty. It is important that these courses are offered and taken at a faculty
level, so that each student gets the same solid foundation for their upper division courses:
• A 1 st
-year course that introduces the four pillar model of Sustainability, and therefore
provides an initial framework in which students will build their knowledge of global
systems.
• A 2-year course in Environmental Ethics, which incorporates examples of
environmentally responsible citizenry and can help to provide a cultural lens through
which environmental, economic, and social issues and initiatives might be viewed.
• A T d
year course in Resource Management Institutions that places an emphasis on
• ?
both traditional and new and innovative governance structures. The purpose of such
a course is to ensure that students - in particular science students who otherwise
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
rI1
might not be exposed to these topics - gain a critical understanding of management
institutions. A current example of this type of course already taught at SFU is REM
356.
?
0
A 4
th
-year 'capstone' workshop that is problem-oriented that would allow students to
apply their learning to an explicit, modem-day environmental problem or situation.
This course offers students with experience in cross-disciplinary dialogue, and
different modes of delivery that they will encounter in when solving problems with
people of varying backgrounds and cultures in the 'real world.'
This program will then provide more comprehensive programming that focuses on the
natural science and environmental dimensions of Sustainability. In other words, upper level
courses would allow for specialized courses within the areas of Biodiversity, Ecosystems,
and Conservation. These courses might include courses already being taught, but might
also draw upon new expertise from 1-2 of new faculty hires.
In keeping with the philosophy of the 4
th
-year capstone course, other upper-level required
courses within this interdisciplinary program (and the Faculty at large) will be developed that
that incorporate cross-disciplinary dialogues and real-world problem-solving approaches to
expand upon students' abilities to understand and deal with complex environmental
problems. Programming along these lines could include:
• 4th year 'Honors' projects - an interdisciplinary project supervised by 1-2 individual
faculty members. Projects would be expected to integrate some aspect of
interdisciplinary research and community outreach.
• A field course following the model of the SFU 2008 archaeology field school, which
represented a detailed collaboration between SFU researchers and First Nation
community interests and goals. Community members were involved in every step of
the planning and implementation of an eight-week program, resulting in several
interdisciplinary research themes that will structure future collaborative research,
training, and outreach. Example research themes include (a) herring use, ecology,
and history, (b) cultural landscape (trans)formation, and (c) developments in intertidal
farming (e.g., fish traps and clam gardens).
The current focus of this Interdisciplinary Program is at the undergraduate level, but the
potential exists for this program to develop into more focused programming at the graduate
level. Furthermore, existing graduate programs at SFU (e.g., REM, Geography, Biological
Sciences, Public Policy) have the potential to contribute to (and draw students from) this
undergraduate program.
Incorporation of First Nations
The proposed program offers a superb opportunity for broad institutionalization of attention
to Aboriginal and First Nations interests in knowledge sharing, capacity building, and
problem solving. Cultural ecosystem heritage conservation is among the most rapidly
expanding areas of concern and investment by First Nations and Aboriginal communities in
Canada. The explicitly applied orientation of the program provides a basis for collaborative
engagement of Aboriginal and First Nations students, researchers, communities, and issues
in training, outreach, and investigative initiatives. SFU has a distinguished record of
reciprocal, project-by-project collaborations, and these provide points of orientation for
program direction and foundations for program growth and development. New course
offerings that might be included to address this goal include: a course in 'Traditional
Knowledge and Ethno-Science', which could be co-taught by an SFU faculty member and a
FES InterdiscipLinary Programming Committee Report
?
77
Native land-user. In addition, we fully expect First Nations communities, perspectives, and
issues to be represented in problem-oriented capstone courses.
Fit with existing units within Faculty of Environment and Sustainability, and with
other SFU faculties
The research and teaching aspects of this program is close to the core research areas of
faculty from within the existing units of the Faculty of Environment and Sustainability,
including 4-5 REM faculty and members of Geography. Furthermore, from departments
outside the new faculty, we envision members of the Aquatic Conservation group and others
within the Department of Biological Sciences as prime contributors to this program.
Such a degree program would also provide a strong complement to other proposed
Interdisciplinary Programs, existing undergraduate programs such as the Environmental
Science and Geography, and graduate programs such as the REM MRM and Ph.D.
programs and the Development Studies Certificate program. This proposed interdisciplinary
program could contribute students with strong scientific credentials to any seminars,
capstone courses,. or other cross-cutting educational dialogues that are planned for the
Faculty.
SFU academic units that may participate in the program include the prospective units within
the FES as well as Archaeology, Biology, and First Nations Studies. For example, joint work
between REM and Archaeology has developed an increasingly important source of well-
dated packages of ecosystem data and of insight into ancient and long-term change in
human ecosystems. First Nations Studies provides critical sources of, and compelling
alternatives to, accepted definitions of environment, research, and knowledge, as well as
guidance in forging collaborations with aboriginal communities.
FES InterdiscipLinary Programming Committee Report ?
78
Appendix Sc
?
Interdisciplinary Program Proposal
?
Environment and Development
This program focuses on the search for sustainable forms of development in the context of
current unsustainable practices and their complex consequences. The program will develop
and test sustainable solutions to current and future environmental problems related to socio-
economic advancement and will prepare students for public engagement in the development
of new strategies for sustainability. As the scale of these complex questions involves the
whole world, the roles of individuals, societies, states and organizations at every level from
the local to the international can only be understood in the context of the large body of
knowledge built up on the consequences of earlier development strategies, in the search for
sustainability. SFU has researchers and advanced students from all parts of the globe
currently working on such issues in many units and Departments, and a broad-based inter
and multi-disciplinary program in FES has the potential to shape and articulate this
intellectual capital in new and useful ways.
Environment and Development
encompasses a broad range of research and policy
concerns in both developed and developing countries. This program examines the nature of
world 'environmental movements' such as those leading to 1972 the Stockholm conference,
the creation of UNEP and action groups like Greenpeace in the early 1970s, and those
activities ensuing from the 1987 World Commission on Environment and Development
(Bruntland) which coined the term 'sustainable development' as a way to overcome zero-
sum thinking about the nature of socio-economic and ecological interactions. Programming
would be based on the premise that human impacts on ecological systems are largely
manifested through development activity. Development, in this context, includes economic,
technological and industrial advancement, and social development of urban and rural
settlements. Research on the ecological impact of resource use and production will be
complemented by research on human environments - for example, urban settlements and
landscapes, and the cultural and social practices they embody and articulate. Existing FES
units share driving interests in development-related topics such as urban policy, planning
and politics and their impact on humans in terms of health, gender, age, class and race;
upon societies and their economies; and upon different types and scales of communities,
organizations, and social relationships. The new Faculty will help promote collaborative
research on innovative policies, practices and relationships as they are developed within
cities, and transferred across the urban hierarchy, with both intended and unintended
consequences, locally and globally, including their impact on rural society, economies and
ecologies. Research on commodities and industrial ecology, for example, emphasizes the
environmental impacts of industrial societies and the design of industrial complexes that
mitigate and minimize regional impacts; life cycle analysis identifies the full environmental
costs of commodities and products, from their resource inputs and energy requirements, to
disposal and/or recycling.
This FES program aims to bring units into closer conversation with related disciplines, and to
offer enhanced potential for collaborative research on the ways in which social and
ecological environments are founded, formed, and framed. It brings together a range of
social and natural scientists, as well as those scholars interested in cultural expressions,
education, health and business together to help understand the manner in which individuals
and groups interact to re-create and consume new and old environments. This broad-based
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
79
interdisciplinarity is required since while social structures, systems, and networks create
environments as places characterized by the human interactions that happen within them,
individuals, groups, and societies socially construct and give meaning to many
understandings of 'environment' within the context of scientific and traditional knowledge
about natural processes and phenomena and public and private disagreements arise in the
context of those understandings. This program would have both a graduate level platform
and a senior undergraduate platform: in which activities at one level will stimulate activities
in the other. In addition to the teaching capacity coming in to the new FES (e.g. in CSCD,
REM, GEOG, Development Studies), the committee identified affiliated courses and
researchers outside the faculty who would contribute by (a) enabling FES students to flow
through their courses in their units; and (b) taking part in team-taught or co-taught elements
of FES Environment and Development program offerings. These 'external' courses and
individuals are presently located in such units as Sociology and Anthropology, Health
Sciences, Political Science, Education, Humanities, First Nations Studies, Urban Studies,
Communication, Women's Studies, History, Canadian Studies, Gerontology, Philosophy,
Criminology and Business. The multi-unit teaching model of the Development Studies core
seminar suggests a model of team-teaching at the graduate level, and Development Studies
will participate fully in the design of a new Environment and Development program at the
senior undergraduate level too. The Program Leader in Environment and Development
would facilitate the interaction of graduate research done outside FES with graduate
students working in FES units, and establish a small honours program for high performing
senior undergraduates, preparing them for advanced studies and possible leadership roles.
Placements, coop education, and internships would be combined with field courses and
schools to provide an experiential balance with conceptual and research training.
[7
--j
0
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report ?
80
Appendix 5d
?
Interdisciplinary Program Proposal
?
Water and Environment
Focus and rationale
In the coming years, water quantity and water quality issues will be intensified owing to
increased water demand, changes in land use, and other competing interests. Adequate
supplies of water of appropriate quality are critical to underpin economic vitality and
productivity, support environmental restoration and maintenance, and provide for society in
equitable ways. Moreover, climate change is anticipated to have significant impacts on
global water distribution and availability. Universities have a major responsibility to prepare
future water scientists, managers and policymakers to meet these challenges.
Water is an immensely complex subject which requires the mastery of many disciplines from
the practical sciences of hydrology and climate, to an understanding of social organization
and the law. The goal of an Interdisciplinary Program on Water and Environment is to
provide students with a solid foundation in the hydrologic and climate sciences, with
complementary strengths in environmental economics, biology/ecology, social sciences, and
law. The research vision of this interdisciplinary program is to consider the impacts on water
availability and sustainability under threats of environmental change through scientific
quantification of changes, assessment of predictability and uncertainties of future change,
and application of this knowledge to the development of better policies for mitigation and
adaptation to those changes. Several researchers at SFU focus on water, and many already
bridge gaps between the physical and social sciences through their involvement with public
policy and governance teams. This interdisciplinary program is a logical extension of SFU's
existing academic strengths in these areas.
SFU niche
Environmental programs in 'water' are few across Canada and elsewhere despite the
importance of water at a global scale. Most water-related programming is housed within Civil
Engineering Departments, and focuses on Water Resources in respect of municipal water
systems (e.g., waste-water management). Only a few programs exist on Watershed Science
or Watershed Planning, notably UBC's graduate certificate in Watershed Management. The
proposed Water and Environment program at SFU would be different in that it would focus
on water from an interdisciplinary perspective and would place SFU in a lead position on
water-related education in Canada.
At the outset, and with minimal additional resources, this interdisciplinary program could
offer a degree program in Water Science (B.Sc.) with major, honours and minor degrees.
The water science degree program would be one-of-a-kind in that it will provide a strong
science-based interdisciplinary training in 'water' but draw on SFU's liberal arts strengths by
complementing the science courses with relevant courses in other disciplines. As the
interdisciplinary program develops, additional programs both at the undergraduate and
graduate levels could be added, for example, in water management, water policy and law,
etc.
1]
FES Interdisciplinary
Programming Committee Report
?
81
Elements of interdisciplinary program
The undergraduate program would initially offer major, honors and minor degree programs
in Water Science:
"The Water Science degree program would provide strong science-based
interdisciplinary training in the hydrologic and climate sciences, complemented by
courses in biology/ecology, economics, social sciences, and law (governance).
Graduates of this B.Sc. program will have the credentials in water science to
contribute broader discussion/debate on water management and water policy. They
will be able to work alongside discipline-specific scientists in hydrology,
hydrogeology, and climatology, offering a broader perspective on water management
issues."
The Faculty of Environment and Sustainability provides a unique opportunity to assure that
students pursuing degrees in water-related disciplines have a solid foundation in
interdisciplinary study. The Water and Environment Interdisciplinary Program will require
students to take a collection of courses (both at the introductory level and at the upper
division level) with students from the other Interdisciplinary Programs. Such course
structuring would be difficult, if not impossible, to impose on other existing program
structures across campus. The introductory course ENV IXXW- Interdisciplinary Studies on
the Environment would introduce all students within the interdisciplinary programs to the four
main themes within the faculty (currently Biodiversity, Ecosystems and Conservation, Global
Change and Solutions, Development and Environment, and Water and Environment). At the
upper division level, likely in the 4 th
year, students will re-assemble to take one or more
capstone courses on current issues and ideas, such as climate change, water sustainability
or food security that will be offered jointly with other interdisciplinary programs within FES.
The undergraduate program will initially draw on existing courses with the exception of the
interdisciplinary courses identified above and five new water-specific courses. These new
courses will include ENV 1XX-3 Water Resources, ENV 3XXW-3 Environmental (Water)
Law, Policy and Governance, ENV3XX-3 Introduction to Physical and Chemical
Oceanography, ENV3XX-3 Land Use and Water Quality, and ENV 4XXW-3 Water Problem
Analysis/Planning.
Future growth areas for the program will depend on areas of specialization for new hires
over the years. Priority areas for hiring identified during the consultation stage include
oceanography, water policy and law, watershed modeling. Other possible new courses
include: Water pollution and human health; Aquatic toxicology - note that Environmental
Toxicology is no longer offered; Oceanography - 2
nd
course; Water systems - Rivers, Lakes,
Wetlands, Estuaries, and Oceans.
The Water Science undergraduate degree program within the Water and Environment
Interdisciplinary Program can be offered by Fall 2009 with provision for perhaps two
sessional appointments. Over time, new courses in Economics and Environmental
Decisions, Environmental Law, other courses in areas of specialization for new hires, etc.
can replace courses or add to the program.
Competition
In relation to Water and Environment, there exist a few programs on watershed science but
they do not include coastal areas. Engineering water programs exist but are not in direct
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
competition with FES. UBC offers some water governance courses and a water
management certificate (watershed management is also offered elsewhere).
Existing graduate programs
SFU currently offers three graduate degree programs on various aspects of water.
• REM - Water Resources Management
• Department of Geography - Hydrology, Climatology
• Department of Earth Sciences - Hydrogeology, Glaciology, Hydrogeochemistry
At the graduate level, there is potential to develop new graduate programs in the Water
and Environment Interdisciplinary Program that focus on watershed
planning/analysis/modeling, water policy, and water and economics. For example, a Water
Policy program, perhaps offered as a joint program between the School of Public Policy
and the Water and Environment Program, could focus on the policy nexus between the
natural and physical sciences, social sciences, legal frameworks, institutions, and
management issues confronting both the public and private sectors. The institutional
arrangements that govern water allocation and water quality, and the scientific basis for
management decisions, are of fundamental importance to water policy. The program
would likely attract science graduates who have an interest in water policy.
At this stage, it is somewhat premature to develop a graduate program. Within one or two
years, with joint faculty positions, faculty secondments, and new faculty hiring both within
the FES and more broadly across the university community, a graduate program will be
developed.
Water and Environment Interdisciplinary Program
Undergraduate
?
Graduate
B.Sc. Water Science (major, ?
Links to existing graduate programs in
honors, minor
?
Hydrology, Hydrogeology, Water
Management
New undergraduate programs or
joint programs ?
New Graduate program(s)
82
.
0
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
83
.
?
Potential undergraduate degree requirements
Major program requirements
Water Science (B.Sc. major)
Students complete 120 units including:
• minimum of 36 units at the 300 and 400 division as specified by the major program
• additional upper division units to total a minimum of 44 upper division units
• all undergraduate students enrolling in September 2006 and thereafter must fulfill the new
curriculum writing, quantitative, and breadth requirements
• a minimum program 2.00 cumulative grade point average (CGPA) must be obtained on the
overall major program requirements, as well as a minimum program grade point average of
2.00 in the upper division major program courses.
Additional requirements, as specified by the major program and in General Information, may
be required.
B.Sc. honors program and honors first class requirements
This program provides in-depth study in a single field and requires the student to
concentrate his/her studies in the fifth to eighth levels in the chosen field. It is recommended
for those intending to proceed to advanced degrees provided they meet the entrance
requirements and maintain the required standing.
Students applying for honors program admission will normally have a cumulative grade point
average of 3.00 (B standing) and are expected to maintain this standard to continue in the
honors program.
Students complete 132 units including:
• a minimum of 48 upper division units in one subject area
• additional upper division units to total to a minimum of 60 units of upper division
credit
• all undergraduate students enrolling in September 2006 and thereafter must fulfill the
new curriculum writing, quantitative and breadth requirements
• a program 3.00 CGPA minimum must be obtained on the overall honors
requirements, as well as a minimum program GPA of 3.00 in the upper division
required honors program courses. (See "Student Appeals" on page 36 of the General
Regulations section regarding graduation GPA requirements on all course work
completed at Simon Fraser University.) Honors students who obtain both a program
and a graduation minimum GPA of 3.5 are eligible for the designation 'first class'.
Students must also complete additional requirements as specified by the honors and in the
section called 'Honors Program'.
Minor program requirements
Water Science (B.Sc. minor)
This program will allow students pursuing degree programs in other disciplines to focus on a
theme within water science including ecosystems, chemistry, hydrology, climatology,
hydrogeology, environmental management. Students must complete 9 credit hours of core
.
?
water courses, plus an additional 9 upper division credits in Water Science designated
courses along with the necessary pre-requisites.
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
84
Writing, quantitative, and breadth requirements
Students completing degree programs must fulfill writing, quantitative and breadth
requirements as part of their program.
See Appendix 6 for an example of the potential cross-unit courses for a B.Sc. Major in
Water Science.
0
:
a)
5
.
.
•
?
eC
©
(l)
0
a)
I-
.0
a)
?
0
'I-
0
a)
;
.
.'
=
t
— ?
—
a)
a)
- ?
*_
5
C5
5O
5C
o
—
a)
C
?
?
a)
C
0
?
.2
. ?
c
?
0
(
D
0
a)
C
a)
.9 ?
.2
a)0
.
CL
.2
(
?
fO
C) ?
O
)
O
.
D
— ?
.
0.00
Cl)
C ?
D ?
1c?
C*
t
?
V-
CD
NU-
0)
In
N
in ?
fl
.2 ?
N
-
?
- ?
0
a) ?
0
4
>. '-
'
- ?
-
.2
a,
=
'- ?
'-
C) ?
C)
I
?
1.2
I—
!
<
?
<a)
IX28Ii<
<Cl)
2
U)
u
oD.wDWO0
Ln
co
U
>1
IA
h.-.
.9
CO
CO
(1)°
?
.2
C
a) ?
2
o
E
g
g
.g
0
U
•
i a,
a)
0 ?
—
S)0..
^
?
c
0 ?
c
CCOC
0 a)
o
-
0
CIO
C
0
?
0
LI. ?
i:
C
j
Th6o
CL
9
C?
•E
Ul
0 ?
c0a)-Oco
CD
C
0
In
o
E
0
ø
0
W ?
2
0
05
WW
Z
(DO
w.E
(Do—
Z
WE>
?
z
uJ0
D
12
.Ecw
o.
m
?
0
IL
a)
C
S
.2
a)CO
cr
a)
C,)
CC)
.!flU'-
a)
a)
v
0
O
CL
E
?
Co c
a) ..
L.
.2
o
en2E
?
r,9
NCO
WE
r) ??
c)
NWE
(DC
?
1L
IV
A
?
r
&..2
U)'-E
-i
(flEa)
CI)E
??
EE
COE
wo
a)i
0 4
o
5
02(l)
OWO
Z.2EZOZEZOZE
2o00 ??
C.)O.E
8°
Qa)0
0.
0)
0)
=0W
a)
.9
a)
U
0.
a)
E.2
o
—
E
E
(1)
E
.9
0
.
E
°
?
?
a)—a)O
)•°.
0
E
.2
CO
'
I Ll
X
CO
>'
E
C
0 ??
0)
0 ??
COQ
>.. ?
?
-
.
0 ?
0)
o
U.
a,
_
a)
a.
C
0Q
0 ?
a) a) C 0
?
>
w
0Q
(1) ?
(1)
Lu-
q
s
U
an
0
c
o
l ?
CO)
'
.0
>.
CD
()
i
N
.
-C
>
?
CD
U)
0
C
0 >
?
.
CD ?
-
CD
E
.!
W-
0. N
N N
N
0.
N ?
) 0. r)
0 ?
r . ?
0
(D
I-
an
_
080
00 00
Wa,W2WwW
?
0
0,
0
0 ?
OCO
00
2
Wa)WWW
CDOCDCDQ
O0(DO0O
O=OwOth
w
uj8wO
0.
x
'U
.0
O
J
O
R
CC
O
Cl)
o
?
-
WE
Cl)
0
?
1•
WCEC,EENEC,)CDEE
1
' ?
0)
CC)
a)
?
o
CD
.2
a)
M.G
?
C C
2
cn
0(l)
-a
C)5
CC52a)
a)
>U)
LLi
L
W.c: ?
w
0lx
<COW
0.CC
WO
Q.E<U)W
Wcci)
W<
Et
00
c
.2 ?
>.o o
0 ?
0
ui
0
C
Cm ?
C)
of
C ?
E
WE2
0. 0
CL
S E
-ow
?
'
0 ?
U) ?
C
?
I'.
U)
r
0 C)
0.2
0 ()
Cl) ?
CO
?
(6 •) iu<
?
0
o
C—
cc ?
w
C)
0
a)
0o
_
og ?
....ia) ?
c ?
w
C)
0)
—
()W
?
Cl ?
'
tm
I-
-'E'
?
N.-
?
Cd
00
CL
IL
o.0
Oo
?
40
(l)U) ?
CO
<.8
C/) ?
<8
U)Cl)
10
co
41
C
a)
E
C
1..
(D
>
0
0
C
a)
U)
C)
0
0
a) ?
a) ?
U)
a)
. ?
•E.
.
?
0
2a)
?
2 ?
. ?
5
(Dc
C?. ??
?? ?
'C>
;g
C •
?
-E ?
0) - S 0
?
E° v a)
Oa)
co
w
<o
i-
Back to top
C
C
O
<a)
L
Back to top
wO
).
Back to top
(1)0
(..).Q
wCD
<2
Back to top
U
?
<w>,
WI-
(I)-
Q.00
I
S
4-I
I-
0
0.
a)
a)
4-I
E
E
0
I-)
on
C
E
E
a)
an
0
I-.
a)
C
0.
U
U,
a)
4-,
C
Ui
>.. ?
U)
C) .0
?
-
= —
? 0 ?
C = —
-
?
a)
C
C ?
0.
?
>
v ?
ö.2I..
a) ?
?
0
0)
?
?
a.
?
_2
Co ?
c
?
E
C.
—
?
C)
?
0)
a)U)
?
0 ?
E ?
.5 ?
a)(l)
?
a) ?
2
Ou)QI ?
0 ?
000C/)I ?
W
V ?
0
a)
??
C)c E— E
C
1 ?
'
N w
6
C
-.=
?
- ?
N ?
t.- ?
0 >s Is
N
C I
)
a)
2
?
w
10
> - ?
- ?
i
— ?
u
a) ?
- ?
- ?
i—
0 ?
00000'
OgwOOO — O ?
0 ?
OoOOO8O..2
Wa)I..CWWWW
?
w
W2 WWWa)W .
0OI-O000a)0
?
0E00000001
-.
0
?
-
S
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
87
Appendix 7
SFU Strategic Research Plan Priorities
• Maximize opportunities for discovery and innovation;
• Promote internationally competitive research and scholarship;
• Cultivate excellence through selective investment in emerging areas of research;
• Facilitate collaborations across disciplinary and institutional boundaries;
• Recruit and retain outstanding students, research fellows, and faculty;
• Encourage effective communication and dissemination of research results;
• Optimize use of our research and scholarship resources;
• Recognize the full value of intellectual property;
• Achieve thematic coherence in the expression of SFU's research interests;
• Engage all our communities for the benefit of society.
is
I
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee Report
?
88
Appendix 8
?
0
Demand Research for FES
In its 2007 report, EGO Canada forecast that environmental employment in Canada is
expected to rise by
1.6%
annually from 2006 to 2011, while other industries can expect
an annual increase of 1.4%.
54
Since EGO Canada's last study in 2004, new regulations
and the public's interest in greenhouse gases, energy efficiency, cleanup of brownfields,
and other environmental topics have transformed environmental work.55
In the next academic programming phase for the FES, additional market research on
specific individual proposed IPs should be considered in the regular development and
approval process. Further detailed information should include:
a.
identifying the specific resources available (existing expertise, courses, and
funds) that could be incorporated into the new programs;
b. identifying any additional resources that will be available in the future for new
programs;
c.
a market study on student demand for proposed programs;
d.
current and future career prospects for graduates of the
proposed programs; and
e.
existing competition from comparable programs in Canada and abroad.
Eco Canada
55
states,
"Continued growth in worldwide environmental consciousness also
means a continued growth in prosperous new work opportunities. As forecasts of
employment growth in the environmental sector double the nationals average in the next
two years, environmental professions have become the hottest career opportunities for
anyone from new graduates to seasoned veterans in other industries. Growing demand
for workers, higher than average salaries, employer dedication to professional
development, the ageing work force, and the opportunity to positively contribute to the
environ are all emerging factors that are creating lucrative and engaging careers
possibilities in the environmental sector"
According to ECO Canada's
200856
Employment Labour Market Study,
65% of
environmental employers in Canada were hiring for environmental positions during 2007;
this percentage is expected to grow within the next two years. ECO Canada also lists the
five hottest "green" careers in Canada today as:
• Environmental Engineer
• Environmental Technologist/Technician
•
Conservation Biologist
• Geographic Information System (GIS) Analyst
• Environmental Communications Officer
http://www.eco.caJpdffLMl
Industr y Final _2007_EN.pdf.
http://blog.lidc.sfu.ca/careerservices/p
1344
The "green" collar job boom: Environmental sector
growing 60% faster than economy.
6
h : //wecoc&por/medjoompx ?
djSp1ar 1022
FES Interdisciplinary Programming Committee
Report
?
89
Appendix 9
?
Environmental Programs at Selected Canadian Universities57
.
University
Environmental faculty
Components
Undergraduate and Master's
Size (average
or equivalent,
degree programs
annual grads in
last _5_yrs)
Alberta
Faculty of Agriculture,
Department of
B.Sc., Environmental and
N/A
Forestry and Home
Renewable Resources
Conservation Sciences; MSc
Economics
Calgary
Faculty of
MED. Environmental Science
14
Environmental Design
Dalhousie
Faculty of
School for Resource
Master of Environmental Studies
N/A
Management
and Environmental
(MES), Master of Resource and
Studies
Environmental Management
(MREM).
Guelph
Ontario Agricultural
Faculty of
B.Sc., Environmental Sciences;
N/A
College
Environmental
M.Sc., Rural Planning and
Sciences; School of
Development
Environmental Design
and Rural Development
Manitoba
Clayton H. Riddell
Department of
B.Sc., Physical Geography,
78 UG; 23 G
Faculty of
Environment and
Bachelor of Environmental
(2005)
Environment, Earth,
Geography; Department Sciences, Bachelor of
and Resources
of Geological Sciences;
Environmental Studies, Master of
Natural Resources
Environmental Science, Master of
Institute
Environment; B.Sc., Geological
Sciences, M.Sc., Geological
Sciences; Master of Natural
Resources Management
McGill
McGill School of
17 faculty jointly
B.A., Environment, B.Sc.,
N/A
Environment
appointed with other
Environment; Graduate
units
Environment Option
Queen's
Faculty of Arts and
School of
B.Sc., Environmental Science,
N/A
Science
Environmental Studies
Master of Environmental Studies
Saskatchewan
School of
Master of Environment, Master of
Environment and
Applied Environmental Processes,
Sustainability
M.A. or M.Sc. programs on
(proposed)
environmental themes (proposed)
Toronto
Faculty of Arts and
Centre for Environment
Collaborative Master's programs,
N/A (began in
Science
Master of Environmental Science;
2005)
Collaborative undergraduate
programs in environment and
science, environmental policy and
practice, and environment and
society
Waterloo
Faculty of
Department of
Bachelor of Environmental Studies;
230 UG; 52 G
Environmental
Environment and
M.A., Planning; Master of
Studies
Resource Studies,
Environmental Studies; Master of
Department of
Applied Environmental Studies and
Geography, School of
others
Planning
York
Faculty of
Bachelor in Environmental Studies;
65 UG; 107 G
Environmental
Master in Environmental Studies
Studies
0 ?
57
Munro, J.M.,
A
Vision for Environmental Programming at Simon Fraser University. 2007
